Increased Production of the Soluble Tumor-Associated Antigens CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Some tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are expressed on inflammatory cells. We previously detected carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA; CD66) in the rheumatoid (RA) synovium. The production of CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15.3, may be increased in patients with RA, scleroderma, lupus, and SjÖgren's syndrome (SS). Some of these TAAs contain sialylated carbohydrate motifs and they are involved in tumor-associated cell adhesion and metastasis. We assessed levels of TAAs in the sera of RA patients and healthy subjects. Serum TAA levels were correlated with disease markers including serum rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-CCP antibody levels, DAS28, age disease duration. TAAs including CEA, CA15-3, CA72-4, CA125, and CA19-9, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were assessed by immunoassay in the sera of 75 patients with RA and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Normal upper limits for these TAAs were 3.4 Μg/L, 25 kU/L, 6.9 kU/L, 35 kU/L, 34 kU/L, and 16.3 Μg/L, respectively. There were significantly more RA patients showing abnormally high levels of CA125 (10.8% versus 7.1%), CA19-9 (8.1% versus 0%), and CA15-3 (17.6% versus 14.3%) in comparison to controls ( P < 0.05). The mean absolute serum levels of CA125 (23.9 ± 1.8 versus 16.8 ± 2.2 kU/L) and CA19-9 (14.2 ± 1.2 versus 10.5 ± 1.6 kU/L) were also significantly higher in RA compared to controls ( P < 0.05). Among RA patients, serum CEA showed significant correlation with RF ( r = 0.270; P < 0.05). None of the assessed TAAs showed any correlation with CRP, anti-CCP, DAS28, age or disease duration. The concentration of some TAAs may be elevated in the sera of patients with established RA in comparison to healthy subjects. CEA, CA19-9, CA125, and CA15-3 contain carbohydrate motifs and thus they may be involved in synovitis-associated adhesive events. Furthermore, some TAAs, such as CEA, may also correlate with prognostic factors, such as serum RF levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73224/1/annals.1422.037.pd

Dairy cow fertility

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:84/26582(Dairy) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Relação entre a condição corporal e a idade das ovelhas no encarneiramento com a prenhez Body condiction score and age of ewes at mating time and pregnacy

No presente trabalho, são apresentados dados sobre a condição corporal (CC) e a idade das ovelhas de um rebanho ovino do Rio Grande do Sul, no início do encarneiramento e sua relação com a percentagem de prenhez (PP). As PP e a CC média observadas foram 90,4% e 2,84 (&plusmn;0,57) respectivamente. A CC média das ovelhas prenhes (P) e vazias (V) foram: P 2,86 (&plusmn;0,56) e V 2,64(&plusmn;0,59), tendo sido observada diferença significativa (p< 0,001). A PP por categoria de CC das ovelhas, no início do encarneiramento, mostrou que, conforme aumenta a CC, aumenta a PP, chegando aos valores de 92% e 98% no grupo de ovelhas com CC 3,0 e 4,0 respectivamente. Finalmente, a análise de regressão logística realizada mostrou não haver relação da idade da ovelha na taxa de prenhez, confirmando, entretanto, associação positiva entre prenhez e CC (p = 0,002).<br>In this study, the relationship between score of body condition (BC) at the beginning of mating and ewes age with the pregnancy rate (PR) of a Corriedale sheep flock, grazed in the State of Rio Grande do Sul- Brazil are presented and discussed. The BC and PR observed on the flock were 90.4% and 2.84(&plusmn;0.57) respectively. The mean of BC of the pregnant (P) and non-pregnant (NP) ewes was P 2.86 (&plusmn;0.56) and NP 2.64(&plusmn;0.59). The values of P and NP have shown statistic significance (P< 0.001). The results showed, also, that the PR increase as the BC increases, reaching 92 and 98% on the group of ewes with BC 3.0 and 4.0 respectively. Finally, the regression logistic analysis from the data showed that the age of the ewes have no relation with the PR and a positive relationship between pregnancy and body score condition ( p=0.002)