Background. The screening and early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) still remain a challenge due to the lack of reliable and effective serum biomarkers. Thus, this study is aimed at identifying serum biomarkers of CRC that could be used to distinguish CRC from healthy controls. Methods. A prospective 1 : 2 individual matching case-control study was performed which included 50 healthy control subjects and 98 CRC patients. Untargeted metabolomic profiling was conducted with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify CRC-related metabolites and metabolic pathways. Results. In total, 178 metabolites were detected, and an orthogonal partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model was useful to distinguish CRC patients from healthy controls. Nine metabolites showed significantly differential serum levels in CRC patients under the conditions of variable importance in projection VIP > 1 , p < 0.05 using Student’s t -test, and fold change FC ≥ 1.2 or ≤0.5. The above nine metabolites were 3-hydroxybutyric acid, hexadecanedioic acid, succinic acid semialdehyde, 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, prostaglandin B2, 2-pyrocatechuic acid, xanthoxylin, 12-hydroxydodecanoic acid, and formylanthranilic acid. Four potential biomarkers were identified to diagnose CRC through ROC curves: hexadecanedioic acid, 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, 2-pyrocatechuic acid, and formylanthranilic acid. All AUC values of these four serum biomarkers were above 0.70. In addition, the exploratory analysis of metabolic pathways revealed the activated states for the vitamin B metabolic pathway and the alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolic pathways associated with CRC. Conclusion. The 4 identified potential metabolic biomarkers could discriminate CRC patients from healthy controls, and the 2 metabolic pathways may be activated in the CRC tissues.

Background The ongoing outbreak of SARS‐CoV‐2 has caused great global concerns. In contrast to SARS, some SARS‐CoV‐2 infected people can be asymptomatic or only have mild non‐specific symptoms. Furthermore, there is evidence that SARS‐CoV‐2 may be infectious during an asymptomatic incubation period. With the discovery that SARS‐CoV‐2 can be detected in plasma or serum, blood safety is worthy of consideration. Study design and Methods We developed a NAT screening system for SARS‐CoV‐2 targeting nucleocapsid protein (N) and open reading frame 1ab (ORF 1ab) gene which could screen 5076 samples every 24 hours. 2019‐nCoV RNA standard was used to evaluate linearity of standard curves. Diagnostic sensitivity and reproducibility were evaluated using artificial SARS‐CoV‐2 virus. Specificity was evaluated with 61 other respiratory pathogens. Diagnostic performance was evaluated by testing 2 sputum and 9 oropharyngeal swab specimens. The RT‐PCR assay was used to screen SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in blood donors specimens collected during the outbreak of SARS‐CoV‐2 in Chengdu. Results LOD of the SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR assay for N and ORF 1ab gene were 12.5 and 27.58 copies/mL, respectively. Intra‐assay and inter‐assay for SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR assay based on Ct were acceptably low. No cross‐reactivity was observed with other respiratory virus and bacterial isolates. The overall agreement value between SARS‐CoV‐2 RT‐PCR assay and clinical diagnostic results were 100%. A total of 16 287 blood specimens collected from blood donors during SARS‐CoV‐2 surveillance were tested negative. Conclusions A high throughput NAT screening system was developed for SARS‐CoV‐2 screening of blood donations during the outbreak of SARS‐CoV‐2.

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors with recurrence and metastasis after surgical resection. This study aimed to identify the physiological changes after surgery and explore metabolites and metabolic pathways with potential prognostic value for CRC.MethodsAn ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q-exactive mass spectrometry was used to profile serum metabolites from 67 CRC patients and 50 healthy volunteers. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projections to latent structures-discriminant analysis were used to distinguish the internal characteristics of data in different groups. Multivariate statistics were compiled to screen the significant metabolites and metabolic pathways.ResultA total of 180 metabolites were detected. Under the conditions of variable importance in projection &gt;1 and p-value &lt;0.05, 46 differentially expressed metabolites were screened for further pathway enrichment analysis. Based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database and Small Molecule Pathway Database, three metabolic pathways—arginine and proline metabolism, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, and phenylalanine metabolism—were significantly altered after surgical resection and identified as associated with the removal of CRC. Notably, gamma-linolenic acid was upregulated in the CRC preoperative patients compared with those in healthy volunteers but returned to healthy levels after surgery.ConclusionThrough serum-based metabolomics, our study demonstrated the differential metabolic characteristics in CRC patients after surgery compared with those before surgery. Our results suggested that metabonomic analysis may be a powerful method for exploring physiological alterations in CRC patients after surgery as well as a useful tool for identifying candidate biomarkers and monitoring disease recurrence.

BackgroundDemographic information has been shown to help predict high antibody titers of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) in CCP donors. However, there is no research on the Chinese population and little evidence on whole-blood donors. Therefore, we aimed to investigate these associations among Chinese blood donors after SARS-CoV-2 infection.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 5,064 qualified blood donors with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection completed a self-reported questionnaire and underwent tests of SARS-CoV-2 Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody and ABO blood type. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for high SARS-CoV-2 IgG titers according to each factor.ResultsTotally, 1,799 participants (with SARS-CoV-2 IgG titers≥1:160) had high-titer CCPs. Multivariable analysis showed that a 10-year increment in age and earlier donation were associated with higher odds of high-titer CCP, while medical personnel was associated with lower odds. The ORs (95% CIs) of high-titer CCP were 1.17 (1.10–1.23, p&lt; 0.001) and 1.41 (1.25-1.58, p&lt; 0.001) for each 10-year increment in age and earlier donation, respectively. The OR of high-titer CCP was 0.75 (0.60-0.95, p = 0.02) for medical personnel. Female early donors were associated with increased odds of high-titer CCP, but this association was insignificant for later donors. Donating after 8 weeks from the onset was associated with decreased odds of having high-titer CCP compared to donating within 8 weeks from the onset, and the HR was 0.38 (95% CI: 0.22-0.64, p &lt;0.001). There was no significant association between ABO blood type or race and the odds of high-titer CCP.DiscussionOlder age, earlier donation, female early donors, and non-medical-related occupations are promising predictors of high-titer CCP in Chinese blood donors. Our findings highlight the importance of CCP screening at the early stage of the pandemic.

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