Search

This report describes a variant form of lipase found in a patient with cryptogenic liver cirrhosis. Serum lipase in this patient showed persistently increased activity with simultaneously normal activity of amylase. Results of exclusion chromatography demonstrate that the lipase activity in the serum of this patient eluted as a macromolecule. Since macromolecular complexes were not fixed by protein A, it seems unlikely that lipase is attached to IgG. Tests of the sera from 20 patients with raised serum lipase activity in acute pancreatitis or an acute episode of chronic pancreatitis revealed, in two patients, that a small but reproducible proportion of the total lipase activity eluted in the region of the macrolipase. In addition, 10% and 18% of the total lipase activity was found in the elution region of the macrolipase in two commercial pooled sera used for quality control. The results show that, in rare cases, macrolipasemia must be considered a possible cause of raised serum lipase activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CORUM (https://mips.helmholtz-muenchen.de/corum/) is a public database that offers comprehensive information about mammalian protein complexes, including their subunits, functions and associations with human diseases. The newly released CORUM 5.0, encompassing 7193 protein complexes, is the largest dataset of manually curated mammalian protein complexes publicly available. This update represents the most significant upgrade to the database in >15 years. At present, the molecular processes in cells that are influenced by drugs are only incompletely understood. In this latest release, we have begun systematically investigating the impact of drugs on protein complexes. Our studies are based on a dataset from DrugCentral comprising 725 protein drug targets with approved drugs and known mechanisms of action. To date, we have identified 1975 instances from the literature where a drug affects the formation and/or function of a protein complex. Numerous examples highlight the crucial role of understanding drug-protein complex relationships in drug efficacy. The expanded dataset and the inclusion of drug effects on protein complexes are expected to significantly enhance the utility and application potential of CORUM 5.0 in fields such as network medicine and pharmacological research., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Introduction: pneumococcal infections are associated with high morbidity, hospitalisation and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate the health and economic burden of all-cause pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in Belgian hospital settings, by patient's age and risk profile., Methods: This descriptive retrospective study was conducted in 17 Belgian hospitals. Univariate and multivariate logistic linear regression models were performed. The Health Insurance and patient's cost perspectives were considered because a few studies report these costs., Results: The analysis has included 4,712 hospital admissions over the year 2018. Median hospitalization costs were higher for invasive pneumococcal infection diagnosis than for all-cause pneumonia (p < 0,001), respectively 4,051€ and 3,362€. Other factors associated with higher hospitalization cost were patient's high-risk profile, admission to emergency unit, transfer from nursing home, admission to intensive care unit and length of stay., Conclusion: Streptococcus pneumoniae infections remain a public health problem with significant cost for the Health Insurance and poor prognosis. Invasive pneumococcal infections are associated with longer hospital stays and required more intensive care than all other causes of pneumonia, in addition to be more costly, which justifies more attention for vaccination. This study also suggests an increase of economic and health burden with age and presence of underlying conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Brauner reports writing assistance was provided by Pfizer Inc. Marbaix reports a relationship with Pfizer that includes: employment. Pirson has patent pending to Assignee. Co-author previously employed by Pfizer - S.M.]., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier India Pvt Ltd.)

The CORUM database has been providing comprehensive reference information about experimentally characterized, mammalian protein complexes and their associated biological and biomedical properties since 2007. Given that most catalytic and regulatory functions of the cell are carried out by protein complexes, their composition and characterization is of greatest importance in basic and disease biology. The new CORUM 4.0 release encompasses 5204 protein complexes offering the largest and most comprehensive publicly available dataset of manually curated mammalian protein complexes. The CORUM dataset is built from 5299 different genes, representing 26% of the protein coding genes in humans. Complex information from 3354 scientific articles is mainly obtained from human (70%), mouse (16%) and rat (9%) cells and tissues. Recent curation work includes sets of protein complexes, Functional Complex Groups, that offer comprehensive collections of published data in specific biological processes and molecular functions. In addition, a new graphical analysis tool was implemented that displays co-expression data from the subunits of protein complexes. CORUM is freely accessible at http://mips.helmholtz-muenchen.de/corum/., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Dysregulation of sphingomyelin and ceramide metabolism have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. Genome-wide and transcriptome-wide association studies have identified various genes and genetic variants in lipid metabolism that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. However, the molecular mechanisms of sphingomyelin and ceramide disruption remain to be determined. We focus on the sphingolipid pathway and carry out multi-omics analyses to identify central and peripheral metabolic changes in Alzheimer's patients, correlating them to imaging features. Our multi-omics approach is based on (a) 2114 human post-mortem brain transcriptomics to identify differentially expressed genes; (b) in silico metabolic flux analysis on context-specific metabolic networks identified differential reaction fluxes; (c) multimodal neuroimaging analysis on 1576 participants to associate genetic variants in sphingomyelin pathway with Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis; (d) plasma metabolomic and lipidomic analysis to identify associations of lipid species with dysregulation in Alzheimer's; and (e) metabolite genome-wide association studies to define receptors within the pathway as a potential drug target. We validate our hypothesis in amyloidogenic APP/PS1 mice and show prolonged exposure to fingolimod alleviated synaptic plasticity and cognitive impairment in mice. Our integrative multi-omics approach identifies potential targets in the sphingomyelin pathway and suggests modulators of S1P metabolism as possible candidates for Alzheimer's disease treatment., (© 2022. The Author(s).)