Biomedical subjects

Ching-Hua Kuo

Publications and source records attributed to Ching-Hua Kuo.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Evaluation of dried blood spots relative to peripheral blood mononuclear cells for intracellular tenofovir-diphosphate and emtricitabine-triphosphate assessment using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine (TAF/FTC) is widely used for HIV treatment and prevention. Their intracellular metabolites, tenofovir-diphosphate (TFV-DP) and emtricitabine-triphosphate (FTC-TP), provide informative measures of drug exposure. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are the primary matrix for these measurements; however, their isolation is labor-intensive, limiting clinical applicability. This study evaluated dried blood spots (DBS) for assessing intracellular TFV-DP and FTC-TP exposure relative to PBMCs. Paired PBMC and DBS samples (n = 124) were analyzed using a validated LC-MS/MS method. Moderate correlations were observed between DBS and PBMC concentrations for TFV-DP (r = 0.44, p < 0.0001) and FTC-TP (r = 0.27, p = 0.0025), with stronger correlations in the central 80% of participants based on the DBS-to-PBMC concentration ratios (r = 0.61 and 0.44, respectively). Log-transformed Bland-Altman analysis, with more than 90% of samples falling within the 95% limits of agreement. Additionally, concentration distributions across different virological statuses were similar between DBS and PBMC. DBS samples (n = 44) were also collected at baseline and on day 29 from people with HIV receiving TAF/FTC in combination with isoniazid plus rifapentine (1HP) to demonstrate the applicability of DBS for investigating potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs). In conclusion, the observed moderate correlations between DBS and PBMC concentrations of TFV-DP and FTC-TP suggest that DBS may serve as a feasible sampling approach for population-level assessment of intracellular TFV-DP and FTC-TP exposure. The simplicity of DBS sample collection and handling may facilitate large-scale clinical studies and highlights its potential utility in future clinical research.

Dried blood spots↗

PubMed2025

INCREASED CIRCULATORY KREBS CYCLE METABOLITES IN SEPSIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED INTERLEUKIN-6 RELEASE AND WORSE SURVIVAL.

Objective : Recent studies have proposed that Krebs cycle metabolites may serve as potential biomarkers for prognosis in sepsis. However, whether these metabolites are associated with disease severity and can be applied to improve the effectiveness of current prognosis assessment in sepsis remains unclear and is explored in this study. Methods : This prospective multicenter cohort study was conducted in medical intensive care units (ICUs). From December 2019 to September 2022, consecutive patients admitted to medical ICUs for sepsis were screened and recruited. Plasma samples were obtained for measurements of cytokines and Krebs cycle metabolites, including citrate/isocitrate, cis-aconitate, alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate, and malate. Results : In total, 97 patients admitted for sepsis were enrolled in the study. The 28-day mortality rate was 17.5%, and nonsurvivors exhibited significantly increased plasma lactate levels and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores. Plasma levels of Krebs cycle metabolites were significantly correlated with both plasma lactate and interleukin-6 levels. Except for citrate/isocitrate, all Krebs cycle metabolites were significantly elevated in patients with acute kidney injury. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for plasma lactate levels and SOFA scores, revealed that plasma levels of alpha-ketoglutarate (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 2.404, P = 0.002), fumarate (adjusted HR: 1.904, P = 0.001) and malate (adjusted HR: 1.327, P = 0.019) were associated with increased risk of 28-day mortality. Conclusions : Study findings indicate that Krebs cycle metabolites, particularly alpha-ketoglutarate, fumarate, and malate, when applied with SOFA score, might enhance prognostic assessment in patients with sepsis.

Humans↗

PubMed2019

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based analytical strategies for fatty acid analysis in biological samples.

Fatty acids play critical roles in biological systems. Imbalances in fatty acids are related to a variety of diseases, which makes the measurement of fatty acids in biological samples important. Many analytical strategies have been developed to investigate fatty acids in various biological samples. Due to the structural diversity of fatty acids, many factors need to be considered when developing analytical methods including extraction methods, derivatization methods, column selections, and internal standard selections. This review focused on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based methods. We reviewed several commonly used fatty acid extraction approaches, including liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase microextraction. Moreover, both acid and base derivatization methods and other specially designed methods were comprehensively reviewed, and their strengths and limitations were discussed. Having good separation efficiency is essential to building an accurate and reliable GC-MS platform for fatty acid analysis. We reviewed the separation performance of different columns and discussed the application of multidimensional GC for improving separations. The selection of internal standards was also discussed. In the final section, we introduced several biomedical studies that measured fatty acid levels in different sample matrices and provided hints on the relationships between fatty acid imbalances and diseases.

Fatty Acids↗