ABSTRACT. Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease; it is an important health problem among postmenopausal women. We evaluated the association of three polymorphisms, T869C, C-509T and G915C, of the TGF-β1 gene with bone mineral density (BMD) serum TGF-β1 levels in 278 postmenopausal female osteopenia/osteoporosis subjects and 95 postmenopausal female control subjects. Serum TGF-β1 levels were significantly lower in osteopenia/ osteoporosis subjects than in control subjects. Serum TGF-β1 levels of the CT+CC (T869C) genotype group were significantly lower in osteopenia/osteoporosis subjects than in control subjects (11.3 vs 15.8 ng/mL). There was a significant difference in the CT+CC (T869C) genotype frequencies between the osteopenia/osteoporosis and control subjects (74.18 vs 60.22%; OR = 1.90, 95%CI = 1.16-3.12). In the age group of more than 50 years, subjects with the TC+CC genotype of T869C polymorphism had significantly increased risk of osteopenic/ osteoporotic bones at L1 (OR = 2.36, 95%CI = 1.37-4.07), L2 (OR = 1.71, 95%CI = 1.01-2.90), L3 (OR = 2.21, 95%CI = 1.23-3.98), L4 (OR = 1.74, 95%CI = 1.00-3.03) and the femoral neck (OR = 1.80, 95%CI = 1.04-3.12). The CT+CC genotype of the T869C polymorphism of the TGF-β1 gene was found to be associated with lower serum TGF-β1 in osteopenia/osteoporosis subjects and increased risk of osteopenic and osteoporotic fracture at L1-4, femoral neck and total hip in postmenopausal Thai women. Logistic regression analysis showed that T869C polymorphism is a significant risk factor for osteopenia/ osteoporosis. We concluded that T869C polymorphism of the TGF-β1 gene has an impact on decreased serum TGF-β1 levels and influences susceptibility to osteopenia/osteoporosis in Thai women.

SARS-CoV-2 continues to cause significant morbidity globally, including in areas where DENV and CHIKV are endemic. Reports using rapid diagnostic and ELISAs have demonstrated that serological cross-reactivity between DENV and SARS-CoV-2 can occur.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). RT-PCR detection of viral RNA represents the gold standard method for diagnosis of COVID-19. However, multiple diagnostic tests are needed for acute disease diagnosis and assessing immunity during the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, we developed in-house anti-RBD IgG and IgA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) using a well-defined serum sample panel for screening and identification of human SARS-CoV-2 infection. We found that our in-house anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA displayed a 93.5% sensitivity and 98.8% specificity whereas our in-house anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA ELISA provided assay sensitivity and specificity at 89.5% and 99.4%, respectively. The agreement kappa values of our in-house anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA ELISA assays were deemed to be excellent and fair, respectively, when compared to RT-PCR and excellent for both assays when compared to Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA ELISAs. These data indicate that our in-house anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA ELISAs are compatible performing assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection.