Biomedical subjects

Begoña Casado

Publications and source records attributed to Begoña Casado.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The role of emerging techniques in the investigation of prolidase deficiency: from diagnosis to the development of a possible therapeutical approach.

The aim of the present article is to review the efforts performed in the past two decades by numerous research groups for the development of methods that allow a correct diagnosis of prolidase deficiency (PD), a rare autosomal recessive disorder and for the rationalization of a possible therapeutic intervention on these patients. In particular, the interest of the reader is focused on the application of capillary electrophoresis (i) for the detection of biological markers that reflect the pathological feature of the disease and (ii) for the determination of the efficiency of a carrier system in delivering prolidase inside cells in a possible therapy based on enzyme replacement.

Dipeptidases↗

PubMed2005

Urinary electrophoretic profiles from chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia patients: a pilot study for achieving their normalization.

Aim of our study was to determine if there were distinct, disease-related patterns of urinary analytes in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia (CFS/FM) compared to normal controls (NC). Urine was collected from these subjects for two consecutive 24 h periods and aliquots were submitted to micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). To compensate for the differences in peak migration times, these were normalized from the 35 min duration of run to a 100-point scale, and each peak was assigned its normalized time measure. Peak heights were also normalized by dividing the mAU by that of the internal standard (creatinine) and multiplying by 100. MEKC with normalization for peak height and migration time generated comparable results within each of the patient groups. CFS/FM and CFS had significant differences in peaks compared to NC that may be of significance as biomarkers of illnesses.

Chromatography, Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary↗

PubMed2005

Identification of human nasal mucous proteins using proteomics.

The determination of possible biomarkers in nasal secretion of healthy subjects can have a role in early diagnosis of diseases such as rhinosinusitis. For this purpose, nasal lavage fluids (NLFs) from ten volunteers, collected before and after they had been submitted to nasal provocations, were investigated. Separation and analysis of proteins present in this complex matrix was performed using a capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry equipment. From among a total of 111 proteins found (89 known and two unknown proteins), 42 of which had never been previously described in this fluid, such as Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors 1 isoform a precursors, and cytoskeletal proteins were identified with high statistical score. Three proteins of palate lung nasal epithelial clone (PLUNC) family: SPLUNC1, LPLUNC1, and LPLUNC2 were identified. Proteins involved in innate (27%) and acquired immunity (21%) systems were major components of NLF. Cellular (52% of all proteins identified) such as cytoskeletal (33%), functional (15%), and regulatory (4%) proteins, normally present in the nasal cavity, have also been identified. The proteomic approach presented here allowed us to identify the proteins involved in acquired and innate immune response in the nose against microbial infections and unclean inhaled air.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection as a novel sensitive approach for the analysis of desmosines in real samples.

Among various biomarkers believed to behave as descriptors of the disease process in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), urinary desmosines are commonly used for monitoring elastin degradation. Given the low concentrations of urinary desmosines, their quantitative determination in this biological matrix often requires preconcentration steps. To minimize both solute losses and effects of sample matrix, and to decrease data variability related to the above-mentioned manipulation processes, we have developed a capillary electrophoresis approach combined with laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection system using urine samples not submitted to any pretreatment procedure other than filtering the sample. Urines were hydrolyzed, derivatized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and endogenous desmosines were identified by addition of standard analytes and submitting to mass spectrometry (MS) analysis the material collected from micropreparative runs. The assay showed good linearity, reproducibility and precision, allowing to detect amounts of desmosines as low as 10(-8) M (equivalent to 0.1 fmol on column). We conclude that CE-LIF technique is a highly sensitive method for detecting urinary desmosines.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Proteomics for nasal secretion analysis.

Since the completion of the human genome, the interest of the scientific community has evolved toward understanding the human proteome. The genomic and proteomic data will facilitate our understanding of the functions of proteins in diseases and the discovery of novel drug target proteins and biomarkers of diseases. Highly sensitive analytic techniques are necessary to study the complexity of biologic samples. The key to any proteomics experiment is to reduce the complexity of the sample before mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Numerous separation techniques have been used, including one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, chromatography, and affinity techniques. MS has become a powerful method for analyzing biologic samples. This review does not cover all aspects of proteomics, but is intended to give an introductory explanation of the technology using the example of the proteomics of nasal secretions.

Biomarkers↗