Serum Lipid-bound Sialic Acid Research Articles

Evaluation of Total and Lipid-Bound Sialic Acids, Trace and Macro Elements, and Some Biochemical Parameters in Dogs with Babesiosis

The present study was designed to investigate the changes at the levels of total sialic acid (TSA), lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA), trace and macroelements, and some biochemical parameters in dogs naturally infected with babesiosis. While babesiosis group consisted of seven dogs which were diagnosed with babesiosis clinically and parasitologically (ELISA), control group consisted of seven healthy dogs. Serum TSA and LSA levels in blood samples were measured spectrophotometrically by Sydow and Katapodis methods, respectively. Some biochemical parameters and macroelement measurements were performed using a modular autoanalyzer device. Trace mineral measurements were performed by ICP-MS technique. Compared to the healthy group, dogs with babesiosis had considerably higher TSA and LSA levels. Serum AST, ALP, LDH and CK enzyme activities and CRP, glucose, globulin, total bilirubin, urea, uric acid, creatinine and BUN levels of the babesiosis group significantly increased, while total protein level significantly decreased. The changes in ALT enzyme activity and triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, HDL-CDL and ferritin levels were not statistically significant. Zinc, copper, magnesium, sodium, and potassium levels of the babesiosis group decreased significantly, while iron and chlorine levels increased significantly (p

The Serum Total and Lipid-Bound Sialic Acid with Hematological-Biochemical Parameter Levels in Dogs with Dirofilariosis

The present study was planned to investigate the potential changes in the levels of serum total sialic acid (TSA), lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) and hematological-biochemical parameters in the dogs naturally infected by Dirofilaria immitis. The patient group included the 7 dogs clinically and parasitologically (Modified Knott and PCR) diagnosed with Dirofilaria immitis while 7 healthy dogs were assigned as the control group. The biochemical parameters, blood gas parameters and hematological parameters were tested in the blood samples taken properly according to the guidelines from all the study animals using modular auto-analyser, blood gas analyser and automated blood count devices, respectively. Serum TSA and LSA levels were measured spectrophotometrically using Sydow and Katapodis methods, respectively. Compared with the healthy group, the dogs diagnosed with dirofilariosis were found to have significantly increased levels of serum troponin, triglycerides, VLDL, LDL, BUN, urea and creatinine and enzymatic activities of CK-MB, ALT, AST, ALP and LDH, and statistically significantly decreased levels of cholesterol and HDL (p<0.05). The increases in levels of total protein and total bilirubin, and enzymatic activity of CK were found statistically insignificant (p>0.05). A significantly decreased level of RBC and a significantly increased level of WBC was determined in the dogs with dirofilariosis (p<0.05). The decreases in the levels of Hct and Hb were found statistically insignificant (p>0.05). The differential blood count test of the dogs with dirofilariosis indicated statistically significantly increased eosinophil count (p<0.05). The increases in the neutrophil and basophil counts, and the decreases in the lymphocyte and monocyte counts were detected to be statistically insignificant (p>0.05). In the dogs with dirofilariosis, the decreases in the levels of pCO2, HCO3 and BE as the venous blood gas parameters were detected to be statistically significant (p<0.05). The decreases in the levels of pH and pO2 were determined to be insignificant (p>0.05). The levels of serum TSA and LSA of the dogs with dirofilariosis were found statistically significantly higher than the healthy group (p<0.05). As a conclusion, statistically significant differences were identified between the dogs with dirofilariosis and healthy dogs in terms of sialic acid levels and certain biochemical, venous blood gas and hematological parameters. On the other hand, the present study is the first to investigate the serum sialic acid levels in the dogs with dirofilariosis.

Lipid-bound sialic acid in psoriasis and its correlation with disease severity

Background: Psoriasis is a common chronic persistent inflammatory skin disorder distinguished by hyperproliferation and reduced differentiation of keratinocytes. The inflammatory processes involved may be associated with the development of co‑morbidities. Increased levels of total sialic acid have been shown to correlate with inflammation and atherosclerotic processes. Serum sialic acid has been reported as a marker of the acute phase response; increased sialic acid concentrations have been observed in inflammatory diseases and cancer. Objectives of the Study: To estimate serum lipid‑bound sialic acid (LBSA) levels in patients with psoriasis and a group of healthy controls. To evaluate the correlation between LBSA levels and the severity of the disease. Materials and Methods: Serum LBSA was estimated in patients and controls by Katopodis and stock method. The degree of severity of psoriasis was clinically assessed by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score for each patient. The statistical significance was evaluated using unpaired ‘t’ test and Pearson’s correlation. Results: The mean levels of LBSA in psoriasis cases was found to be higher compared with controls, and it was statistically significant (P < 0.001). There was a mild negative correlation between ceruloplasmin levels and PASI, but it did not differ significantly. Conclusion: This study suggests the potential utility of serum LBSA as a biomarker of hyper proliferation, inflammation, and oxidative stress in psoriasis.

Correlation of radiotherapy with serum total and lipid-bound sialic acid in OSCC patients

Context: Increased quantities of glycoconjugates such as Total Sialic Acid (TSA) and Lipid-bound Sialic Acid (LSA) have been detected in the plasma and serum of patients with various malignancies, indicating their usefulness in diagnosis or monitoring of the treatment modality. Aims: (1) To estimate and compare the serum TSA and LSA levels in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) patients before and after radiotherapy, as also in healthy individuals. (2) To determine the correlation, if any, between Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging and levels of TSA and LSA. (3) To determine the use of serum TSA and LSA as biomarkers of OSCC. Settings and Design: The study was designed as a case-control study and was undertaken in a dental college and cancer hospital. Materials and Methods: It was planned to estimate the serum TSA and LSA levels of 20 healthy individuals and of 20 OSCC patients, spectrophotometrically; before starting and one month after completion of radiotherapy. Statistical Analysis: The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 10.0) was used. Results: The mean serum TSA and LSA levels in OSCC patients decreased significantly after radiotherapy; however, they were still higher than the levels in the controls. In untreated OSCC patients, a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the TNM stage of the disease and the serum TSA levels; but the same was not found between the TNM stage of the disease and the serum LSA levels. In OSCC, the serum TSA and LSA levels had a positive relationship with the TNM stages. These levels decreased significantly after radiotherapy. Conclusion: Serum TSA and LSA can be utilized as potential diagnostic and prognostic indicators in OSCC.

Correlation of serum biomarkers (TSA &amp; LSA) and epithelial dysplasia in early diagnosis of oral precancer and oral cancer

Oral cancer is currently the most frequent cause of cancer-related deaths, which is usually preceded by oral pre-cancerous lesions and conditions. Altered glycosylation of glycoconjugates, such as sialic acid, fucose, etc. are amongst the important molecular changes that accompany malignant transformation. The purpose of our study was to evaluate usefulness of serum Total Sialic Acid (TSA) and serum Lipid-Bound Sialic Acid (LSA) as markers of oral precancerous lesions and histopathologically correlating them with grades of epithelial dysplasia. Blood samples were collected from 50 patients with oral precancer (Leukoplakia & OSMF), 25 patients with untreated oral cancer and 25 healthy subjects. Serum sialic acid (total and lipid bound) levels were measured spectrophotometrically. Tissue samples from all the patients were evaluated for dysplasia. Serum levels of total and lipid bound sialic acid were significantly elevated in patients with oral precancer and cancer when compared with healthy subjects. Analysis of variance test documented that there is progressive rise in serum levels of sialic acid with the degree of dysplastic changes in oral precancer patients. We observed positive correlation between serum levels of the markers and the extent of malignant disease (TNM Clinical staging) as well as histopathological grades. The results suggested that serum levels of TSA and LSA progressively increases with grades of dysplasia in precancerous groups and cancer group, when compared with healthy controls. These glycoconjugates, especially LSA has the clinical utility in indicating a premalignant change.

Clinical evaluation of total and lipid bound sialic acid levels in oral precancer and oral cancer

Aims:Special attention has been given to define the biochemical changes in cell-surface glycoproteins and glycolipids that take place during malignant transformation. This study was thus designed to explore the clinical utility of total and lipid bound sialic acid (LSA) in patients with oral precancer and oral cancer.Materials and Methods:Blood samples were obtained from 95 subjects divided into three groups, namely healthy individuals, oral cancer, and precancer. Serum total and LSA levels were determined using periodate-thiobarbituric acid method and Katopodis et al. method, respectively. Finally, spectrophotometricreadings were obtained.Results:Mean values of serum sialic acid (total and lipid bound) in oral cancer were significantly higher than control and the precancer group (P<0.001). The multivariate analysis data revealed progressive rise in total and LSA, which was statistically significant with clinical stage of the cancer.Conclusion:Serum sialic acid levels can differentiate between patients with oral precancer and oral cancer. It could be used as an adjunct to diagnosis, monitor response to therapy, and assess the staging of cancer.

Lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) in liver diseases of different etiologies

Objective. There are evidences that the changes in glycosylation and sialylation of proteins and lipids play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of various liver diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the sialylation of serum lipids measured by the level of lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) in liver diseases of different etiologies.Materials and methods. Tested group consisted of 303 patients suffering from liver diseases: alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis, chronic non-viral hepatitis, toxic hepatitis, chronic viral C and B hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, primary liver cancer, liver cancer and cirrhosis (mixed group), acute hepatitis B, primary biliary cirrhosis and fatty liver. LSA was determined by the method of Katopodis and co-workers.Results. There were significant differences in the serum LSA concentrations between liver diseases of different etiologies. The level of LSA in liver tumors was higher than that in both types of cirrhosis: alcoholic and non-alcoholic. In turn, LSA level in non-alcoholic cirrhosis was lower than in toxic hepatitis and mixed group. There was no difference in LSA concentration between tumor and mixed group. Similarly to LSA, AFP level in tumor group was also higher than that in both cirrhotic groups, but there was no difference in AFP concentration between tumor and mixed group.Conclusions. The sialylation of serum lipids alters in liver diseases of different etiologies. Given the importance of glycans in biological systems we can speculate that the changes in lipids sialylation play an important role in liver pathology, especially in primary cancer, cirrhosis and toxic hepatitis.

Serum lipid-bound sialic acid as a marker in lung cancer patients

To evaluate the usefulness of serum lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) as a tumor marker in patients with lung cancer, its serum levels were determined in 85 patients with primary lung cancer, 42 patients with benign pulmonary diseases and 22 healthy controls by the method developed by Katopodis and Stock. The mean serum LSA concentration was significantly higher in the patients with primary lung cancer [32.4 +/- 16.4 (SD) mg/dl] than that in the patients with benign pulmonary diseases (22.4 +/- 12.4 mg/dl) or in healthy controls (17.2 +/- 4.5 mg/dl). The serum LSA level was elevated above the mean value plus 2 SD for the healthy controls (26.0 mg/dl) in 60% of all cases with primary lung cancer including 1 of 9 (11.1%) in stages I and II and 50 of 76 (65.8%) in stages III and IV and 35.4% of the patients with benign pulmonary diseases. No significant difference was observed in serum LSA concentration among each cell type of lung cancer. Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was elevated (greater than 5.0 ng/ml) in 39.8% of the patients with lung cancer. As there was poor correlation between serum LSA and CEA levels, when these two markers were used in combination, 71.1% of the cases with lung cancer in this study showed elevated levels of either serum LSA or CEA, or both. Moreover, in the patients with small cell lung cancer followed up during intensive chemotherapy, serum LSA levels changed almost parallel with the clinical course. These results indicate that serum LSA may be a useful biochemical marker in lung cancer patients.

Association between serum total and lipid-bound sialic acid concentration and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis

Serum total sialic acid has recently been shown to be a cardiovascular risk factor. Increased levels of this substance are associated with higher cardiovascular mortality and with cerebrovascular disease. It has also been shown that serum concentrations of total and lipid-associated sialic acid are significantly increased in hypertriglyceridemia. On the other hand, several circulating lipoproteins have been suggested to be related to the severity of coronary atherosclerosis, but contradictory results have been reported in the possible relationship between the concentrations of sialic acid and the severity of coronary lesions in patients with coronary heart disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between serum total sialic acid concentration, recently shown to be a cardiovascular risk factor, and serum lipid-bound sialic acid concentration and the severity of coronary lesions. The study comprised 90 subjects, divided into three subgroups according to angiography results: 30 patients with no vessel disease, 30 patients with single-vessel disease, and 30 patients with double/triple-vessel disease. Serum total sialic acid determination was carried out with the thiobarbituric acid method of Warren; lipid-associated sialic acid was assayed with the method of Katopodis. Mean serum total sialic acid levels in patients with single-vessel disease (P <.05) and patients with double/triple-vessel disease (P <.001) were found to be significantly increased compared with that in patients with no vessel disease, whereas mean serum lipid-bound sialic acid levels were found to be significantly different between patients with double- or triple-vessel disease and patients with no vessel disease (P <.001). We also noted a significant difference between the levels of serum total sialic acid (P <.001) and lipid-bound sialic acid (P <.001) in patients with single-vessel disease and patients with double/triple-vessel disease. We found a significant correlation only between serum lipid-bound sialic acid and coronary angiographic score in patients with double/triple-vessel disease (r = 0.425, P <.05). Although the concentration of serum total sialic acid is increased proportionally with the number of diseased coronary arteries, only the concentration of serum lipid-bound sialic acid is related to the severity of coronary atherosclerosis, especially in patients with double/triple-vessel disease. (J Lab Clin Med 2002;140:110-8)

Serum lipid-bound sialic acid in lung cancer patients

Serum lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) assay was evaluated for differential diagnosis between benign and malignant pulmonary disease. Mean serum LSA for normal controls was 13.7±3.7 mg/dl and the upper limit of the normal value was set at 19.8 mg/dl (95% confidence limit, one side). The specificity was 97.1% (95% confidence interval was 93.8%, 100.0%). The mean for benign pulmonary disease was 17.1±5.1 mg/dl, the specificity was 89.1% (95% confidence interval was 80.9%, 97.3%), and the sensitivity was 10.9%. The mean for malignant pulmonary disease was 27.1±7.9 mg/dl, and the sensitivity was 93.3% (95% confidence interval was 88.5%, 98.1%). The serum LSA levels for different malignant pulmonary diseases were different between small cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The results indicate that serum LSA assay might be used as tumor marker to differentiate lung cancer from normal subjects or benign lung disease.

The significance of serum lipid-bound sialic acid in bladder tumours.

Tumour markers with high sensitivity and specificity for bladder cancer are still lacking and several markers have been investigated up to now. Serum lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) was claimed to be a tumour marker by some investigators and this study tried to assess the value of LSA as a tumour marker in patients with bladder cancer. The results obtained from 27 patients and 30 controls showed that serum LSA levels remained within the suggested normal limits of the method used but they were significantly higher than in the controls. The value of serum LSA is questionable as an initial tumour marker for bladder cancer, but variations from the basal level may indeed be helpful in monitoring the efficacy of the therapy and in detecting relapses during follow-ups.

Evaluation and limitations of the lipid-associated sialic acid test for the detection of human cancer.

Previous studies and those of the authors have reported about raised levels of lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) in sera of patients with various neoplasms. Most authors have used the method of Katopodis and Stock for isolating serum LSA. Because of the discrepancy of the amount of extracted LSA with the content of pure gangliosides in sera reported by other groups the authors analyzed the composition of the extracted LSA by immunochemical approaches. They were able to isolate considerable amounts of glycoproteins containing sialic acid as acid alpha-1-glycoprotein, antitrypsin, haptoglobin, antichymotrypsin, and immunoglobulins from the so-called "LSA" fraction. There is a very strong correlation between the raised LSA levels and the content of acid-alpha-1-glycoprotein in the sera of patients with malignancy. Therefore the term lipid-bound sialic acid applied to this test is misleading, since glycoproteins containing sialic acid are mostly responsible for the high "LSA" levels.

Lipid bound sialic acid in cancer patients.

Serum lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) was measured with a recently described procedure in 108 healthy subjects and in 138 patients with a variety of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. At the time of serum sampling, 128 patients had active disease and 10 patients had no evidence of disease. LSA was elevated in 104 of 128 (81.2%) patients with active disease, while carcinoembryonic antigen, analyzed in 74, was elevated only in 21 (28.4%) (P less than 0.05). Sensitivity of the serum LSA test ranged from 66% for breast and gastrointestinal cancer to 92% for lung cancer. In patients with lung cancer, ovarian cancer or Hodgkin's disease, LSA was correlated with the extent of disease and it also proved to be useful in following the course of disease. Our preliminary data indicate that this test can be used as a monitor of tumor burden.

Serum lipid-bound sialic acid as a marker in breast cancer.

The reliability of lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) as a marker in breast cancer was evaluated in 78 normal subjects, 106 patients with benign breast disease, 64 patients with primary operable breast cancer, and 61 patients with recurrent metastatic breast cancer. LSA levels were determined before and after mastectomy and during chemotherapy in selected patients to determine the value of LSA in monitoring therapy and predicting response. LSA levels greater than 20 mg/dl were not seen in normal subjects but were present in patients with benign breast disease (13%), primary breast cancer (47%) and recurrent metastatic breast cancer (62%). LSA levels decreased after initiation of chemotherapy and remained low in patients clinically disease-free. Recurrences were associated with elevated LSA in patients failing chemotherapy or endocrine ablative surgery. LSA measurements appeared to be of limited value in the detection of breast cancer but serial measurements may be useful in assessing disease progression and identifying patients resistant to therapy.