Lifen Zhao

Introduction and importance: Brucellosis is globally acknowledged as the predominant zoonotic infection afflicting humans. Misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis pose significant challenges in the diagnosis of brucellosis due to the potential risk of overlooking or misinterpreting symptoms. Case presentation: This article reports a case of a 10-year-old girl with brucellosis, presenting with fever, rash on both lower limbs, and pain in the right ankle joint. The patient underwent 10 days of inaccurate treatment at a local hospital without improvement, and then sought treatment at a provincial hospital. Considering that it was the peak season for Mycoplasma pneumonia infection, she received intravenous cefotaxime combined with oral azithromycin for anti-infection treatment after admission. Six days later, blood cultures showed positive for Brucella , and it was learned that the child’s family raised sheep. She was ultimately diagnosed with brucellosis. Clinical discussion: In this case, if medical staff had been fully aware of the relevant issues and promptly conducted corresponding laboratory tests, such as the tube agglutination test (SAT) or the colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay, the patient might have received effective treatment earlier. Conclusion: Brucellosis often has nonspecific symptoms that can lead to misdiagnosis or delays in diagnosis. However, early intervention can reduce complications, shorten treatment time, and improve outcomes. Therefore, developing effective diagnostic tests for brucellosis is crucial for timely detection and management. Additionally, healthcare professionals need a thorough understanding of the disease’s clinical signs and diagnostic challenges to ensure accurate and prompt diagnoses.

Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major global health concern, ranking as the third most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Currently, the diagnostic accuracy of Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is currently unsatisfactory. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a reliable tool that can accurately predict lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients diagnosed with CRC.Methods: We conducted an extensive proteomics investigation aimed at examining lymph node metastasis (LNM) in individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). In the discovery stage, employing a mass spectrometry-based proteomic approach, we analyzed a cohort of 60 colorectal cancer patients (NM=30, LNM=30), identifying distinct molecular profiles that differentiate patients with and without lymph node metastasis (LNM). Subsequently, we validated the protein classifier associated with lymph node metastasis.Results: We elucidated a combinatorial predictive protein biomarker that can distinguish patients with and without lymph node metastasis by LC-MS/MS. The classifier achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.892 (95% CI, 0.842-0.941), while in the testing cohort, it attained an AUC of 0.929 (95% CI, 0.824-1.000). Furthermore, the four protein markers demonstrated an AUC of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.783–0.890) in the validation cohort. Additionally, we categorized patients into three types based on immunophenotyping. Type 1 primarily consisted of patients with negative lymph node metastasis (NM), characterized by immune cells such as NK cells, CD4 T effector memory cells, and memory B cells. Type 2 mainly included patients with positive lymph node metastasis (LNM), characterized by immune cells such as mesangial cells, epithelial cells, and mononuclear cells. In Type 1, a prominent upregulation observed in immune inflammation, as well as in glucose and lipid metabolism. In Type 2, significant upregulation was evident in pathways such as pyrimidine metabolism and cell cycle regulation. The findings of this study suggest that immune mechanisms may exert a pivotal role in the process of lymph node metastasis in CRC.Conclusions: Here, we present plasma protein signatures associated with lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, further validation across multiple centers is necessary to generalize these findings.

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Identifying new biomarkers for the early detection of CC is an essential requirement in this field. CXCL8 was originally discovered because of its role in inflammation by binding to CXCR1 and CXCR2; however, it is now known to play an important role in cancer. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression levels of potential biomarkers (CXCL8, CXCR1, and CXCR2) and to explore their diagnostic potential in CC. Methods: The expression levels of serum CXCL8, CXCR1, and CXCR2 were investigated by kit method on Immulite-1000 in 30 healthy volunteers, 30 precancerous patients and 70 CC patients. Results: The results indicated that the expression of CXCL8 and CXCR2 was significantly higher in the serum of CC patients than in healthy volunteers, similar to the well-established tumor marker (squamous-cell cancerantigen [SCC]). Receiver operating characteristic analyses showed that the combination of CXCL8, CXCR2, and SCC had the highest diagnostic sensitivity and area under the curve value. Meanwhile, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value were not very low. Moreover, high concentrations of CXCL8 and CXCR2 are associated with an increased risk of CC. Conclusions: In conclusion, our data demonstrated that combined serum CXCL8, CXCR2, and SCC measurements are helpful for CC diagnosis and can be used as potential biomarkers for the early detection of CC. Cytokines, such as CXCL8 and CXCR2, can be easily measured in most university hospital laboratories and in some private laboratories with a routine test.