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There is an ongoing debate on the implementation of the COVID-19 passport throughout Europe. We sought to build and test a feasible prevention strategy to ensure low SARS-CoV transmission risk in public events. We conducted a non-randomised controlled study. The intervention group obtained a confidential digital certificate of very low capacity for transmitting SARS-CoV-2 and attended socio-cultural events in Girona (Spain) between 1 April and 21 May 2021. The primary care services and a network of pharmacies cooperated in providing the certification. A group of non-attendees was randomly selected from pseudonymised health records as controls. We estimated the incidences of SARS-CoV-2 infection and recorded the challenges in the process. Follow-up was complete for 1351 participants, who were matched with 4050 controls. Mean age of the study population was 31.1 years, and 53% of participants were women. Incidence rates of SARS-CoV infection at 14 days in the group of attendees and non-attendees were 15.9 and 17.7 per 100,000 person-days, respectively; the difference between incidences was − 1.8 (95% CI − 22.8, 19.3). Implementation problems were minor, and 89.2% of respondents to a survey were satisfied with the process. The incidence rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection was not different in the intervention and control groups. These results are in favour of establishing a COVID-19 certificate to attend public events, and connote feasibility of implementation at a population level.

The levels of core fucosylation and α2,3-linked sialic acid in serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), using the lectins Pholiota squarrosa lectin (PhoSL) and Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA), can discriminate between Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and indolent prostate cancer (PCa) from aggressive PCa. In the present work we evaluated whether these glycosylation determinants could also be altered in urinary PSA obtained after digital rectal examination (DRE) and could also be useful for diagnosis determinations. For this purpose, α2,6-sialic acid and α1,6-fucose levels of urinary PSA from 53 patients, 18 biopsy-negative and 35 PCa patients of different aggressiveness degree, were analyzed by sandwich ELLA (Enzyme Linked Lectin Assay) using PhoSL and SNA. Changes in the levels of specific glycosylation determinants, that in serum PSA samples were indicative of PCa aggressiveness, were not found in PSA from DRE urine samples. Although urine is a simpler matrix for analyzing PSA glycosylation compared to serum, an immunopurification step was necessary to specifically detect the glycans on the PSA molecule. Those specific glycosylation determinants on urinary PSA were however not useful to improve PCa diagnosis. This could be probably due to the low proportion of PSA from the tumor in urine samples, which precludes the identification of aberrantly glycosylated PSA.

New markers based on PSA isoforms have recently been developed to improve prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis. However, novel approaches are still required to differentiate aggressive from non-aggressive PCa to improve decision making for patients. PSA glycoforms have been shown to be differentially expressed in PCa. In particular, changes in the extent of core fucosylation and sialylation of PSA N-glycans in PCa patients compared to healthy controls or BPH patients have been reported. The objective of this study was to determine these specific glycan structures in serum PSA to analyze their potential value as markers for discriminating between BPH and PCa of different aggressiveness. In the present work, we have established two methodologies to analyze the core fucosylation and the sialic acid linkage of PSA N-glycans in serum samples from BPH (29) and PCa (44) patients with different degrees of aggressiveness. We detected a significant decrease in the core fucose and an increase in the α2,3-sialic acid percentage of PSA in high-risk PCa that differentiated BPH and low-risk PCa from high-risk PCa patients. In particular, a cut-off value of 0.86 of the PSA core fucose ratio, could distinguish high-risk PCa patients from BPH with 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity, with an AUC of 0.94. In the case of the α2,3-sialic acid percentage of PSA, the cut-off value of 30% discriminated between high-risk PCa and the group of BPH, low-, and intermediate-risk PCa with a sensitivity and specificity of 85.7% and 95.5%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.97. The latter marker exhibited high performance in differentiating between aggressive and non-aggressive PCa and has the potential for translational application in the clinic.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is the most commonly used serum marker for prostate cancer (PCa), although it is not specific and sensitive enough to allow the differential diagnosis of the more aggressive tumors. For that, new diagnostic methods are being developed, such as PCA-3, PSA isoforms that have resulted in the 4K score or the Prostate Health Index (PHI), and PSA glycoforms. In the present study, we have compared the PHI with our recently developed PSA glycoform assay, based on the determination of the α2,3-sialic acid percentage of serum PSA (% α2,3-SA), in a cohort of 79 patients, which include 50 PCa of different grades and 29 benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) patients. The % α2,3-SA could distinguish high-risk PCa patients from the rest of patients better than the PHI (area under the curve (AUC) of 0.971 vs. 0.840), although the PHI correlated better with the Gleason score than the % α2,3-SA. The combination of both markers increased the AUC up to 0.985 resulting in 100% sensitivity and 94.7% specificity to differentiate high-risk PCa from the other low and intermediate-risk PCa and BPH patients. These results suggest that both serum markers complement each other and offer an improved diagnostic tool to identify high-risk PCa, which is an important requirement for guiding treatment decisions This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CDTI grant IDI20130186 and grant BIO 2015-66356-R), by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (grant 2014 SGR 229), and by Roche Diagnostics (Barcelona, Spain). We thank Mireia Lopez-Siles for her support with GraphPad Prism 5

Background There is still no reliable biomarker for the diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA 19–9) is a tumor marker only recommended for pancreatic adenocarcinoma follow-up. One of the clinical problems lies in distinguishing between this cancer and other benign pancreatic diseases such as chronic pancreatitis. In this study we will assess the value of panels of serum molecules related to pancreatic cancer physiopathology to determine whether alone or in combination could help to discriminate between these two pathologies. Methods CA 19–9, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), C-reactive protein, albumin, insulin growth factor- 1 (IGF-1) and IGF binding protein-3 were measured using routine clinical analyzers in a cohort of 47 pancreatic adenocarcinoma, 20 chronic pancreatitis and 15 healthy controls. Results The combination of CA 19–9, IGF-1 and albumin resulted in a combined area under the curve (AUC) of 0.959 with 93.6% sensitivity and 95% specificity, much higher than CA 19–9 alone. An algorithm was defined to classify the patients as chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer with the above specificity and sensitivity. In an independent validation group of 20 pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 13 chronic pancreatitis patients, the combination of the four molecules classified correctly all pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 12 out of 13 chronic pancreatitis patients. Conclusions Although this panel of markers should be validated in larger cohorts, the high sensitivity and specificity values and the convenience to measure these parameters in clinical laboratories shows great promise for improving pancreatic adenocarcinoma diagnosis

New markers based on PSA isoforms have recently been developed to improve prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis. However, novel approaches are still required to differentiate aggressive from non-aggressive PCa to improve decision making for patients. PSA glycoforms have been shown to be differentially expressed in PCa. In particular, changes in the extent of core fucosylation and sialylation of PSA N-glycans in PCa patients compared to healthy controls or BPH patients have been reported. The objective of this study was to determine these specific glycan structures in serum PSA to analyze their potential value as markers for discriminating between BPH and PCa of different aggressiveness. In the present work, we have established two methodologies to analyze the core fucosylation and the sialic acid linkage of PSA N-glycans in serum samples from BPH (29) and PCa (44) patients with different degrees of aggressiveness. We detected a significant decrease in the core fucose and an increase in the α2,3-sialic acid percentage of PSA in high-risk PCa that differentiated BPH and low-risk PCa from high-risk PCa patients. In particular, a cut-off value of 0.86 of the PSA core fucose ratio, could distinguish high-risk PCa patients from BPH with 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity, with an AUC of 0.94. In the case of the α2,3-sialic acid percentage of PSA, the cut-off value of 30% discriminated between high-risk PCa and the group of BPH, low-, and intermediate-risk PCa with a sensitivity and specificity of 85.7% and 95.5%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.97. The latter marker exhibited high performance in differentiating between aggressive and non-aggressive PCa and has the potential for translational application in the clinic