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Editor-in-chief
Maria Stella Graziani

Deputy Director
Martina Zaninotto

Associate Editors
Ferruccio Ceriotti
Davide Giavarina
Bruna Lo Sasso
Giampaolo Merlini
Martina Montagnana
Andrea Mosca
Paola Pezzati
Rossella Tomaiuolo
Matteo Vidali

EIC Assistant
Francesco Busardò

International Advisory Board Khosrow Adeli Canada
Sergio Bernardini Italy
Marcello Ciaccio Italy
Eleftherios Diamandis Canada
Philippe Gillery France
Kjell Grankvist Sweden
Hans Jacobs The Netherlands
Eric Kilpatrick UK
Magdalena Krintus Poland
Giuseppe Lippi Italy
Mario Plebani Italy
Sverre Sandberg Norway
Ana-Maria Simundic Croatia
Tommaso Trenti Italy
Cas Weykamp The Netherlands
Maria Willrich USA
Paul Yip Canada


Publisher
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano

Responsible Editor
Giuseppe Agosta

Editorial Secretary
Chiara Riva
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano
Tel. 0245498282
email: biochimica.clinica@sibioc.it

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ISSN print: 0393 – 0564
ISSN digital: 0392- 7091



BC: Articoli scritti da M. Benati

La Medicina di Laboratorio: gli specialisti di domani
Laboratory Medicine: specialists of tomorrow
<p>Laboratory Medicine rides the wave of technological progress, the metamorphosis of information systems and data management. The Young Specialist is not a mere observer, but rather takes a leading role in this change, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by &ldquo;omics&rdquo; technologies, capturing new ideas and innovative stimuli that lead to a new concept of work and research oriented to health and prevention. Thanks to the support of international web platforms, training and exchange programs supported by the International Scientific Societies and Federations that favor professional and scientific growth, Young Scientists work in a global context. In this scenario, the SIBioC Young Scientists Study Group, with the auspices of SIBioC, EFLM and IFCC, organized a meeting on &quot;Laboratory Medicine: Specialists of tomorrow&quot; with the aim of discussing and highlighting some of the most important challenges, such as technological progress, training and internationalization of young people. Finally, the future of laboratory medicine looks at a multidisciplinary approach that leads to integrated diagnosis, identification of the frail patient, the use of the Point of Care Testing as an indispensable tool in crisis areas, making the dialogue between physician and laboratory specialist a fundamental step for the diagnosis and treatment with the final aim of a better outcome for the patient.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 43(4) 424-434
Documenti - Documents
 
Telomere shortening and PCDH10 promoter methylation in colorectal cancermucosae
<p>Background: telomerase activity and telomere length (TL) have important implications in several human diseases.Telomere shortening is associated with colorectal carcinogenesis. Recent studies also showed that protocadherin 10(PCDH10) plays a critical role in cancer cell growth, by negatively regulating telomerase activity. PCDH10isfrequently downregulated by promoter DNA methylation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether PCDH10promoter methylation was associated with TL in colorectal cancer (CRC).<br />Methods: DNA was extracted from 35 CRC and 35 adjacent normal tissues with Gentra Purgene Kit (Qiagen, Hilden,Germany). A quantitative methylation-specific PCR (MSP) based method was used to analyze a selected CpG site inPCDH10promoter. TL was evaluated with qPCR and expressed as telomere to single copy gene (T/S) ratio.Differences were assessed with Mann-Whitney test or Wilcoxon signed-ranks test when appropriate, whilstcorrelation analyses were performed with Spearman&rsquo;s test. Diagnostic performance was calculated with receiveroperating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. The level of statistical significance was set at p &lt;0.05.<br />Results: we found that TL was significantly lower in CRC than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (p=0.0005). Thearea under the ROC curve (AUC) for TL was 0.759 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.643-0.875, p=0.0002). AberrantPCDH10promoter methylation was detected in 100% of CRC tissues but in none of paired non-cancerous tissues.The median methylation rate in CRC tissues was 55.7% (range: 6.1-97.8%). TL was negatively correlated withPCDH10promoter methylation (r=-0.42, p=0.0002).<br />Conclusions: these results suggest a pivotal role of telomere shortening and PCDH10methylation in CRC tissues.TL may be seen as a potential biomarker in CRC diagnostics.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 43(3) 278-283
Contributi Scientifici - Scientific Papers
 
miR-199a and miR-125b expression levels in serum of women affected by epithelial ovarian cancer
<p>Recent studies show that microRNA (miRNAs) are involved in cancer by regulating cell proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis. Accordingly, their deregulation could contribute to cancer development and progression. It has been demonstrated that in ovarian tissue the over-expression of miR-199a and miR-125b inhibits tumor angiogenesis, a fundamental process for cancer development and growth. Aims of our study were to investigate the expression levels of miR-199a and miR-125b in serum of patients with ovarian cancer (OC) and to evaluate the correlation between miRNAs expression and traditional biomarkers [CA125 and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4)]. 32 patients with epithelial OC (54&plusmn;14 years old) and 31 healthy controls (55&plusmn;17 years old) were enrolled. Serum samples were collected prior to definitive surgical treatment and RNA extraction was performed by using the miRNeasy Serum/Plasma kit (Qiagen GmbH). miR-199a and miR-125b expression was determined by quantitative real timepolymerase chain reaction (TaqMan MicroRNA Assay, Applied Biosystems). The expression levels of miRNAs were normalized to miR-16 and calculated utilizing the 2-&Delta;Ct method. Serum levels of miR-199a and miR-125b were significantly higher in OC patients compared to controls (P=0.007 and P=0.002, respectively). A marginally statistically significant correlation was found between miR-199a and miR-125b expression levels (r=0.38, P=0.03). The ROC curve analysis of the diagnostic performance between healthy controls and OC patients revealed that HE4 had a significantly higher area under the curve (AUC=0.90) when compared to CA125 (AUC=0.85), miR-199a (AUC=0.70) and miR-125b (AUC=0.67). Anyway, the determination of circulating miRNAs may be relevant, since their expression is known to be aberrant in cancer, having potential ability to monitor tumor dynamics.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 40(4) 328-333
Contributi scientifici - Scientific Papers