Biomedicines

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Dear Colleagues,

Coincident with progress in basic and translational sciences, novel technologies, such as nucleic acid amplification tests, proteomics and next-generation sequencing, have been widely employed in the research, diagnosis and management of human diseases. These novel diagnostic and therapeutic techniques not only provide more sensitive and specific approaches to providing enhanced patient care, but also offer advanced tools with which to discover and study novel biomarkers (e.g., novel molecular targets, protein biomarkers and clinical indexes) in order to characterize the underlying mechanisms of pathogenesis, disease severity and prognosis. Notably, the emergence of novel technologies and biomarkers has led to more challenges and opportunities in the validation and verification of their clinical application, the thorough evaluation of their clinical utility, as well as the correlation between new and traditional biomarkers/techniques. This calls for a careful investigation of these topics and an improved R&D process in order to suitably utilize these novel biomarkers and technologies. In this Special Issue, we will focus on the application of novel technologies in the research, diagnosis and management of human diseases. In addition, we will also address the characterization and utilization of novel biomarkers for these diseases.

Dr. Benjamin M. Liu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

pathology
diseases
biomarkers
diagnosis
novel technologies

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1347 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dual-Time-Point 18F-FDG PET/CT in Infective Endocarditis: Impact of Delayed Imaging in the Definitive Diagnosis of Endocarditis

by Amanda Padilla Bermejo, Francisco José Pena Pardo, Edel Noriega-Álvarez, Mariano Amo-Salas, María de las Nieves Sicilia Pozo, Ana María García Vicente and Víctor Manuel Poblete-García

Biomedicines 2024, 12(4), 861; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12040861 - 13 Apr 2024

Viewed by 575

Abstract

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a major public health condition due to the associated high morbidity and mortality. Our objective was to evaluate the utility of dual-time 2-deoxy-2-[18F] fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) imaging in the diagnosis of active IE in patients with suspected native valve endocarditis (NVE) and prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). For this purpose, a retrospective study was carried out, including patients suspicious of NVE or PVE who underwent a dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT. A final diagnosis was established by the Endocarditis Team after patient follow-up using all the available findings. Sixty-nine patients were assessed. A final diagnosis of NVE was established in 3 patients of the 34 by 18F-FDG PET/CT and in the case of PVE was established in 20 patients of the 35. A statistically significant association was found when evaluating the association between PET diagnosis at early acquisition and final diagnosis of IE (χ² = 30.198, p < 0.001) and PET diagnosis at delayed acquisition for final diagnosis of IE (χ² = 9.412, p = 0.002). Delayed PET/CT imaging determined the IE diagnosis in 16/58 of the studies. In conclusion, delayed 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging seems to be useful in improving the definitive diagnosis of IE. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Biomarkers and Technologies in the Research and Diagnosis of Human Diseases)

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Review

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14 pages, 1358 KiB

Open AccessReview

Changes in Whole Blood Polyamine Levels and Their Background in Age-Related Diseases and Healthy Longevity

by Kuniyasu Soda

Biomedicines 2023, 11(10), 2827; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11102827 - 18 Oct 2023

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Abstract

The relationship between polyamines and healthy longevity has received much attention in recent years. However, conducting research without understanding the properties of polyamines can lead to unexpected pitfalls. The most fundamental consideration in conducting polyamine studies is that bovine serum used for cell culture contains bovine serum amine oxidase. Bovine serum amine oxidase, which is not inactivated by heat treatment, breaks down spermine and spermidine to produce the highly toxic aldehyde acrolein, which causes cell damage and activates autophagy. However, no such enzyme activity has been found in humans. Polyamine catabolism does not produce toxic aldehydes under normal conditions, but inflammation and some pathogens provoke an inducible enzyme, spermine oxidase, which only breaks down spermine to produce acrolein, resulting in cytotoxicity and the activation of autophagy. Therefore, spermine oxidase activation reduces spermine concentration and the ratio of spermine to spermidine, a feature recently reported in patients with age-related diseases. Spermine, which is increased by a long-term, continuous high polyamine diet, suppresses aberrant gene methylation and the pro-inflammatory status that progress with age and are strongly associated with the development of several age-related diseases and senescence. Changes in spermine concentration and the spermine/spermidine ratio should be considered as indicators of human health status. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Biomarkers and Technologies in the Research and Diagnosis of Human Diseases)

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