Background: Neonatal sepsis (NS) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among newborns. Its diagnosis depends mainly on blood culture that takes at least 48 hours to give results. Therefore, searching for biomarkers for early diagnosis is of value. We aimed to assess presepsin, soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (sTREM-1), and neutrophil CD64 (nCD64) as early diagnostic biomarkers in NS, and to compare them individually and in combination. Methods: This hospital-based case–control study has been conducted on 60 full-term neonates recruited from the neonatal intensive care unit, Al-Zahraa Hospital, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Thirty infants with sepsis were compared to 30 postnatal age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Studied neonates were evaluated using clinical and laboratory indicators for sepsis. nCD64 was measured by flow cytometry and, serum presepsin and sTREM-1 were measured by ELISA. Results: Presepsin, sTREM-1, and nCD64 levels were significantly elevated in septic neonates vs control group (P<0.05). The sensitivities of presepsin, sTREM, and nCD64 were 100%, 96.7%, and 86.7%, respectively. Presepsin had the best diagnostic performance in early diagnosis of NS followed by sTREM-1 and nCD64. Conclusion: Presepsin and sTREM-1 are promising biomarkers in screening for NS in comparison with nCD64. However, nCD64 is better used in combination with other biomarkers as CRP.

Background: Dysregulated immunity is a hallmark of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Immune suppression is indicated by low monocyte expression of human leukocyte antigen D-related (mHLA-DR). T cells are important antiviral cells. We aimed to assess the role of mHLA-DR and T lymphocyte frequency in predicting COVID-19 severity. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 97 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, including mild to moderate (n = 49) and severe cases admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) (n = 48). These ICU cases were further subdivided into survivors (n = 35) and non-survivors (n = 13). Results: Severe cases had a significant decrease in the mHLA-DR mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) and T lymphocyte percentage compared to mild to moderate cases (P< 0.001). Non-survivors had a lower T lymphocyte percentage (P=0.004) than survivors. The mHLA-DR MFI and T lymphocyte percentage correlated with oxygen saturation (r=0.632, P< 0.001) and (r=0.669, P< 0.001), respectively. According to the ROC curves, mHLA-DR MFI, at a cutoff of 143 and an AUC of 0.9, is a reliable biomarker for distinguishing severe COVID-19 cases, with 89.6% sensitivity and 81.6% specificity, while T lymphocyte frequency had 81.3% sensitivity and 81.6% specificity at a cutoff of 54.4% and an AUC of 0.9. The T lymphocyte percentage as a predictor of ICU survival at a cutoff of 38.995% exhibited 100% sensitivity and 57.1% specificity. According to multivariate regression analysis, reduced mHLA-DR MFI and T lymphocyte percentage are independent predictors of COVID-19 severity (OR = 0.976, 95% CI: 0.955– 0.997, P = 0.025) and (OR = 0.849, 95% CI: 0.741– 0.972, P = 0.018), respectively. Conclusion: Reduced mHLA-DR expression and T-lymphocyte percentage are independent predictors of COVID-19 severity. Oxygen saturation percentage is correlated with mHLA-DR MFI and T lymphocyte frequency. The T lymphocyte frequency is a proposed predictor of COVID-19 survival in ICU admitted patients.

Aim: This is a case-controlled study, with two hundred children enrolled. They were divided into an obese group of 100 children who had BMI ≥ 95th percentile according to CDC criteria and a group of 100 children with normal weight. All enrolled children were subjected to detailed medical history and clinical examination, in addition to measuring fasting blood sugar, fasting serum insulin, HOMA-IR calculation, lipid profile analysis, total serum cholesterol, low- and high-density lipoproteins (LDL and HDL), and serum triglyceride (TG). Two adipokines (lipocalin-2 and adipsin) serum levels plus IL-10 serum level were assessed. Results: Higher Z score of weight, MI, and waist/height ratio and high serum cholesterol, LDL, TG, and low HDL were observed in obese children. Higher levels of serum lipocalin-2 and adipsin and lower IL-10 blood level were observed in the obese group in comparison with the normal weight children. Higher insulin resistance index was observed in the obese group, with positive correlation of HOMA-IR with the anthropometric measurements and lipocalin serum level, while negative correlation was observed between IL-10 and fasting insulin in obese children. Conclusion: Simple measurement of general and central adiposity markers and serum lipocalin-2 can predict insulin resistance in obese children while serum adipsin and IL-10 had no association with insulin resistance.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a life-threatening malignancy. Although regorafenib is used for HCC treatment, its clinical utility is limited by significant adverse effects. This study evaluated whether combining regorafenib with naringenin could enhance its anticancer activity against HepG2 cells. This study included seven groups of HepG2 cancer cells: an untreated control group, a naringenin-treated group (100 μM), a regorafenib-treated group (1 μM), and four groups receiving naringenin (100 μM) combined with decreasing concentrations of regorafenib (1, 0.75, 0.5, and 0.25 μM). Cell viability and the expression of E-cadherin and MRP1 were assessed. All treatments significantly reduced cell viability compared with the control group, with greater inhibition observed in the combination-treated groups than in the monotherapy groups. Combination treatment also increased E-cadherin expression and decreased MRP1 expression. The combination of regorafenib (1 μM) and naringenin (100 μM) exhibited the greatest growth inhibition, the highest E-cadherin, and the lowest MRP1 expression levels. Notably, combining the IC₅₀ of naringenin with one-quarter of the regorafenib IC₅₀ significantly enhanced E-cadherin expression and reduced MRP1 expression compared with regorafenib alone. The present findings suggest that naringenin enhances the anticancer effects of regorafenib in HepG2 cells and modulates E-cadherin and MRP1 gene expression.

Cancer is one of the serious sapping health problems that threatens humans due to its incurable nature. The only hope of beating cancer is early detection that could provide considerable management and accepted prognosis. Metastasis is the dissemination of the tumor cells from the affected organ to another which is not directly connected to the primary affected site. Once metastasis is predictable, the prognosis is poor, and mortality rate is high. Hence, early diagnosis of pre-metastatic malignant tumors could improve treatment efficacy and hence patients’ survival. The past three decades had witnessed an enormous progress in the understanding of the pathophysiological basis of cancer. Disturbed metastatic biomarkers can predict the possibility of future development of metastases, disease progression and therapeutic efficacy. This review collects some of the most important biomarkers that were associated with metastasis in various types of cancer; MRP1, MMP-9, TGF-β, Vimentin, Snail-1 and TWF and E-cadherin. These biomarkers proved their ability to predict who is most at risk of developing metastasis. MRP1, MMP-9, TGF-β, Vimentin, Snail-1 and TWF has been reported to be upregulated during metastasis whereas E-cadherin has been reported to be downregulated. The close monitor of these biomarkers’ levels could Provide oncologists better understanding of the disease stage and hence help them taking right decisions and begin individualized treatment strategies.

Objective: This study aimed to compare between periostin and osteocalcin as biomarkers in Egyptian postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and to explore their possible relationship with fracture risk. Methods: This study included 90 postmenopausal females recruited from Al-Hussein University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt; divided into three groups; 35 postmenopausal osteoporotic females with low fracture risk (group I), 35 postmenopausal osteoporotic females with high fracture risk (group II), and 20 apparently healthy controls. Serum periostin, osteocalcin, and estrogen were measured by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Fracture risk assessment was calculated. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and ionized calcium, Aspartate transaminase (AST), and Alanine transaminase (ALT) were measured spectrophotometrically. Results: The diagnostic performance of periostin for discriminating high fracture risk from low fracture risk groups showed the specificity of (68.6 %) and sensitivity of (100 %), while for osteocalcin the specificity was (51.4 %) and the sensitivity was (68.6 %) respectively. Moreover, the multi Receiver Operating Characteristics (multi-ROC) curve for periostin and osteocalcin together revealed improved specificity and sensitivity of (100 %) each. Conclusion: Periostin was superior to osteocalcin in discriminating high fracture risk from low fracture risk postmenopausal osteoporotic groups. Moreover, dual use of both markers gave the highest discriminative power between low and high fracture risk groups with 100 % specificity and sensitivity.