PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Hsing-Cheng Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Hsing-Cheng Liu.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Proteomic identification of lower apolipoprotein A-I in Alzheimer's disease.

Many researches have been trying to find the potential biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We hereby used the proteomics method to search for protein expression differences in the serum between AD patients and controls. We enrolled 59 AD patients and 74 age- and sex-matched controls in this study. Ten AD patients and 10 controls were selected for proteomic analysis. Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) was found to have a lower expression in the AD group by a proteomics two-dimensional gel electrophoresis study. We further measured the serum ApoA-I level which was significantly lower in the AD patients (112.29 +/- 21.33 mg/dl) in comparison to the controls (144.53 +/- 19.91 mg/dl; p < 0.0002). Lower serum ApoA-I levels might be a potential biomarker for AD.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Anti-heat shock protein 90 is increased in acute mania.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to examine autoantibodies in patients with bipolar disorder. METHOD: We enrolled 94 patients with acute bipolar mania, with 37 of them medicated and 57 unmedicated at the time of blood sampling. The samples also consisted of 44 patients in the remission state and another 48 normal controls. We first used human glioblastoma (U373 MG) cell lysate to screen the potential autoantibodies present in sera of bipolar mania patients, and anti-heat shock protein (anti-HSP) 60, 70 and 90 autoantibodies were identified. We then examined the serum levels of these autoantibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The findings of this study showed that serum anti-HSP90 level was significantly higher in bipolar patients in acute mania than those in remission (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The data of this study suggest that increased anti-HSP90 might be a state marker for acute mania in patients with bipolar disorder.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2006

Association between dopamine receptor D1 A-48G polymorphism and methamphetamine abuse.

Several lines of evidence have suggested that substance abuse is mediated by the dopaminergic rewarding system, primarily through the activity of the dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association of DRD1 A-48G polymorphism with methamphetamine (MAP) abusers and MAP-induced psychosis patients. A total of 363 MAP abusers and 425 healthy normal controls were enrolled. The structural Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Study was used to evaluate all MAP abusers. The MAP abusers were classified into psychosis (n = 135) and non-psychosis (n = 228) groups. A-48G polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The results show that male sex and a higher frequency of MAP abuse were the predisposing factors in the development of MAP psychosis. The DRD1 -48G allele frequency in the MAP psychosis group, non-psychosis group and the healthy normal controls was 0.14, 0.18 and 0.16, respectively. No association was found between DRD1 A-48G polymorphism and MAP abuse and MAP psychosis. However, the data provided additional evidence of ethnicity-related differences in the distribution of polymorphism in comparison to previous studies.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Immunologic variables in acute mania of bipolar disorder.

Macrophages, lymphocytes and their products, may be involved in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. The cell-mediated immune activation response of manic patients during pre-medication and medication stages remains unclear. The purpose of this case-control study was to investigate the plasma levels of immunologic variables, including interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), soluble CD 4 (sCD4) and sCD8, and TH1 (interferon [IFN]-gamma and IL-2) and TH2 (IL-4 and IL-10) cytokines in patients with pre-medicated, medicated bipolar mania. The study subjects, aged 16-44 years, were physically healthy patients with Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) scores > or =26, and normal controls, aged 19-40 years, were matched for sex. The immune variables were measured in acute mania and in consequent remission (YMRS scores < or =12) among bipolar patients. The plasma levels of IL-1RA, sCD4, and sCD8 were found significantly increased in pre-medicated acute manic patients as compared to normal controls. But only IL-1RA and sCD8 were found different in remitted bipolar patients as compared to normal controls. For TH1 cytokines, culture supernatant level of IFN-gamma was found significantly lower in manic patients of both acute and remission stages as compared to normal controls. No significant difference was found in IL-2 level in pre-medicated acute manic patients compared to controls. For TH2 cytokines, no significant differences in IL-4 and IL-10 levels were observed. We showed that cell-mediated immune response was activated in patients with bipolar disorder during the pre-medication, medication, and the remission stages. Our study findings suggest that the immune-modulation in patients with bipolar disorder may be abnormal.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

DAT polymorphism and diverse clinical manifestations in methamphetamine abusers.

The clinical outcome for methamphetamine (MAP) abusers is variable. MAP exerts its biological activity through rapid conversion to amphetamine (AP) and MAP itself. The dopamine transporter (DAT) is the main modulator of MAP/AP-induced dopamine release and dopamine neurotoxicity, and is also the major regulator of dopamine level in the brain. We tested for an association between a DAT-gene polymorphism and clinical variations in MAP abusers. A total of 146 MAP abusers were enrolled in the study and classified into three clinically distinct groups: MAP dependence (n = 30), MAP psychosis (n = 88) and chronic MAP psychosis (n = 28). Patients with schizophrenia (n = 79) and healthy controls (n = 72) were also recruited for the study. The 40 base pair variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of the DAT was the focus of the investigation. The subjects were all Chinese residents of Taiwan. The respective allelic frequencies for DAT repeats 11, 10 and 9 were 0.067, 0.833 and 0.083 for the MAP-dependence group, 0.006, 0.864 and 0.119 for the MAP psychosis group, 0.018, 0.893 and 0.089 for the chronic MAP psychosis group, 0.019, 0.911 and 0.07 for the schizophrenic controls, and 0.021, 0.889 and 0.083 for the healthy controls. No significant associations were demonstrated between this DAT polymorphism in genotype and allele frequency and the clinical outcome of MAP abusers. The biological relevance of the variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of DAT in MAP abusers was not demonstrated in this study.

3' Untranslated Regions↗
PubMed2003

The association of beta-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE) C786G polymorphism with Alzheimer's disease.

The deposition of amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Beta-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the Abeta formation. BACE mutations/polymorphisms may be associated with AD. We searched the BACE coding region mutations/polymorphisms of cDNA in 25 AD patients and 100 healthy controls by single-strand conformational polymorphism. A polymorphism at BACE coding region was identified and confirmed to be 786C/G polymorphism by nucleotide sequencing. Based on these findings, we investigated the association of this polymorphism with the occurrence of AD by PCR-RFLP. A total of 98 AD patients along with 138 controls were recruited in the present study. The allele frequencies of the 786C/G polymorphism were 0.622 for C and 0.378 for G in AD. In controls, the C and G allele frequencies were 0.691 and 0.309, respectively. No significant association of this polymorphism with the occurrence of AD can be established. Larger sample size may be necessary to identify other potential mutations/polymorphisms among BACE gene.

Aged↗