Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.3.1.109 (AST)
 6,066 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sera from 209 dialysis patients were tested for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) by a 2nd generation enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA 2) using nonstructural and core antigens. Confirmation of reactivity was obtained by a 2nd generation immunoblot assay (RIBA 2) for antibodies to 4 separate antigens (5-1-1, c100-3, c33c, c22-3). ELISA 2 was positive in 99 sera, 95 of which were confirmed by RIBA 2, thus accounting for an anti-HCV prevalence of 45.5%. Anti-HCV positivity was correlated to longer duration of dialysis therapy (p less than 0.001), higher number of transfusions (p less than 0.001), history of kidney transplant (p less than 0.001) and of serum alanine/aspartate aminotransferase (AST/ALT; p less than 0.001) or gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) (p less than 0.001) increments. The most frequent RIBA 2 patterns were: reactivity to all 4 antigens (34 patients) and to c33c and c22-3 (45 patients). The former patients, compared to the latter, had higher values of AST (p less than 0.08), ALT (p less than 0.02), GGT (p less than 0.005), IgG (p less than 0.05). It is possible that the reactivity to all 4 antigens of RIBA 2 is a clue of a greater activity of viral hepatic disease.
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PMID:Confirmation of high prevalence of hepatitis C antibodies in hemodialysis patients by second generation immunoblot assay. 132 87

In compliance with the mandatory medical surveillance of workers exposed to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in Italy, isoenzyme fractioning of serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) was performed on 141 workers of both sexes and on 130 control subjects. None of the workers showed any clinical symptoms of liver disease and their enzymatic profiles, including AST, ALT, 5'-NU, ALP, and GGT, were within the normal reference limits. A statistically significant increase in total GGT serum level was found in the exposed subjects, which was associated with an increase in one of the two fractions normally present in healthy individuals (GGT-2), as well as with the appearance and progressive increase of the level of a fraction (GGT-4) considered to be an expression of hepato-biliary impairment. Further research is ongoing among these workers, which will clarify whether or not electrophoretic GGT tests may be useful in detecting liver function changes due to occupational exposure to PCE.
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PMID:gamma-Glutamyltransferase isoenzyme pattern in workers exposed to tetrachloroethylene. 135 99

The efficacy and safety of ursodeoxycholic acid for the treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis were evaluated in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Fourteen patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis documented by cholestatic serum enzyme pattern, liver histological appearance and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography were included in the trial. Six patients received ursodeoxycholic acid (13 to 15 mg/kg body wt/day), and eight patients received placebo. Two patients had to be withdrawn from the study, one because of UDCA-related diarrhea and the other because of worsening of the disease during placebo treatment. Patients in the ursodeoxycholic acid group improved significantly during 1 yr of treatment with respect to serum levels of bilirubin (median = -50%), alkaline phosphatase (median = -67%), gamma-glutamyltransferase (median = -53%), AST (median = -54%) and ALT (median = -36%) compared with the placebo group, but not with respect to serum levels of hydrophobic bile acids. During ursodeoxycholic acid treatment, histopathological features also improved significantly, as evaluated by multiparametric score. Expression of human leukocyte antigen class I molecules appeared to be markedly reduced on liver cells after ursodeoxycholic acid treatment. We conclude that ursodeoxycholic acid is beneficial in reducing disease activity in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
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PMID:Ursodeoxycholic acid for treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis: a placebo-controlled trial. 150 13

A prospective study was performed in clinically malnourished patients in which liver function was tested during a 4-week period of total parenteral nutrition (TPN). The purpose was to determine if concomitant intravenous lipid administration would reduce liver function abnormalities noted to occur frequently in patients receiving TPN. Twenty-five patients were randomly assigned to receive either daily infusions of 200 cc of a 20% lipid emulsion with TPN or TPN without lipid for the first week. In the subsequent 3 weeks all patients received daily intravenous lipid. The early lipid treatment group received 0.7 g lipid/kg BW/day and approximately 280 mg of choline/day from the lecithin emulsifier throughout the entire study period. Liver function tests were performed twice in the first week, then weekly thereafter. There were significant (p less than 0.05) elevations in liver function tests in the early lipid treatment group (for aspartate aminotransferase in weeks 1, 2, and 3, and lactic acid dehydrogenase in weeks 2 and 3). Alkaline phosphatase activity was elevated at weeks 2, 3, and 4 for the lipid-treatment group and at week 1 for the lipid-restricted group. The two groups had a similar elevation in gamma-glutamyltransferase activity. Analysis of covariance demonstrated that the overall duration of TPN, and not the presence or absence of intravenous lipid, was significantly related to the elevations in both alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels. In contrast, the early intravenous administration of lipid was significantly related to the increase in aspartate aminotransferase levels. The peak increase in AST was noted at day 7 in the lipid-administration group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Abnormal liver function in malnourished patients receiving total parenteral nutrition: a prospective randomized study. 210 45

The systemic administration of interleukin-2 (IL-2) can lead to significant antitumor responses in some patients with metastatic cancer in whom standard therapy has failed. A limitation of this immunotherapy is the toxicity associated with IL-2 infusion. To assess toxicity, we determined aspartate aminotransferase (AST; EC 2.6.1.1), alanine aminotransferase (ALT; EC 2.6.1.2), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; EC 2.3.2.2), lactate dehydrogenase (LD; EC 1.1.1.27), alkaline phosphatase (ALP; EC 3.1.3.1), creatine kinase (CK; EC 2.7.3.2), total bilirubin (TBI), direct bilirubin (DBI), creatinine, urea nitrogen, and C-reactive protein in serum from 21 patients before and during five consecutive days of IL-2 treatment. Ten patients were followed for an additional five days after the end of IL-2 therapy. The IL-2 infusion caused liver toxicity and prerenal azotemia, as evidenced by significant increases (P less than 0.05) of all analytes except CK by day 1. There was a progressive increase in the results (except CK) for these tests until IL-2 treatment was stopped. Seven tests related to liver function (AST, ALT, GGT, LD, ALP, DBI, and TBI) showed increases, but the test results indicated significant improvement and moved toward the baseline value five days after the end of IL-2 therapy. Concentrations of creatinine and urea nitrogen in serum were normal three days after the cessation of IL-2 therapy.
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PMID:Changes in laboratory results for cancer patients treated with interleukin-2. 231 Dec 9

The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of serum mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase activity (mAST) and of the mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase/total aspartate aminotransferase ratio (mAST/t AST) as markers of chronic alcoholism in cirrhotic patients. Sixty-three hospitalized cirrhotic patients (35 drinkers, 28 abstainers) were investigated. Ninety-six per cent of abstainers had normal values of mAST activity, while 89 per cent of drinkers had high levels of mAST activity. Cirrhotic patients were better divided into drinkers and abstainers by mAST activity (92 per cent) than by mean globular corpuscular volume (MCV) (81 per cent, NS) or by gamma-glutamyltransferase activity (GGT) (75 per cent, P less than 0.01). When the hospital costs of these markers were taken into account, MCV had a better "quality/price" ratio (Q/P) defined as diagnostic value/mean hospital cost (Q/P = 2.5) than MCV plus GGT (diagnostic value 61 per cent, Q/P = 1.2). The measurement of mAST activity in patients with high MCV value or with discrepancy between MCV and GGT values increased the diagnostic value of the other laboratory measurement to 89 per cent, but at a higher cost (Q/P = 0.8). Mitochondrial AST activity is a sensitive and specific marker of chronic alcoholism in cirrhotic patients. However, owing to its high cost, it should be proposed as a second marker after MCV and GGT.
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PMID:[Role of the serum level of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase as marker of alcoholic intoxication in cirrhotic patients]. 256 11

Using an immunochemical method, we measured the activity of the mitochondrial isoenzyme (mAST) of aspartate amino-transferase (EC 2.6.1.1, AST) in the serum of 687 subjects attending the Centre for Preventive Medicine for a health examination. The distributions of the activities were asymmetrical, with mean values of 1.8 U/L (SD 2.0) for men and 1.4 U/L (SD 1.6) for women. The average ratio of mitochondrial to total AST activity was 0.051 (range 0-0.42). In this unselected population we found no change in the mitochondrial activity or in the mitochondrial-to-total ratio attributable to alcohol consumption, even in subjects who consumed more than 88 g per day. Of 35 men with an alcohol consumption greater than 88 g/d, 19 had a serum gamma-glutamyltransferase activity of greater than or equal to 60 U/L, 17 had glutamate dehydrogenase values greater than or equal to 5 U/L, and only nine had an mAST activity greater than or equal to 3 U/L (values corresponding to the 80th percentiles of the total population). We conclude that the test is not particularly useful as a screening procedure in an unselected population under present-day conditions of measurement.
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PMID:Serum mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase activity: not useful as a marker of excessive alcohol consumption in an unselected population. 256 16

This paper describes in vitro studies on the effects of environmental pollutants (SO2/NOx) in biological systems. Basic physical, chemical and biochemical parameters were analyzed to establish the rate of SO2/NOx absorption by the culture medium. It was shown that the pH remains constant for 24 h of exposure to gas concentrations up to 50 p.p.m. The concentration of ions resulting from absorption of each pollutant in the liquid phase is dependent on their concentration in the gas phase and on exposure time. Short exposure times and high gas dosages resulted in similar doses in the medium as long exposure periods and low gas dosages. The activities of a human serum standard (alkaline phosphatase, ALP; aspartate amino transferase, AST; alanine amino transferase, ALT; gamma-glutamyltransferase, gamma-GT; lactate dehydrogenase, LDH) were determined after gaseous exposure to SO2 and NOx. The results revealed a distinct decrease in the activity of LDH after 1, 3 and 5 h exposure to 200 p.p.m. SO2. The effects of the pollutants were assayed in vitro using fetal hamster lung cells (FHLC), rat hepatocytes and the cell line CO60. For the determination of toxic effects, it was shown that the plating efficiency was a more sensitive parameter than the assay for trypan blue exclusion. Toxicity indicated as an increase of LDH leakage was not observed from FHLC in culture. Instead, a decrease of LDH was found following SO2 exposition. This decrease was similar to that observed for the human serum standard. The induction of DNA single-strand breaks was determined as a measure of genotoxic effects. SO2 application decreased the rate of DNA single-strand breaks induced by N-nitroso-acetoxymethyl-methylamine in both FHLC and in rat hepatocytes. SO2 or NOx treatment of CO60 cells for 1 h did not result in the induction of DNA amplification. HSO3- added directly to the medium as the sodium salt, however, distinctly induced the amplification of SV40 DNA. The amplification rates induced by benzo[a]pyrene or dimethylbenzanthracene were neither influenced by SO2, NOx nor HSO3-. An additive effect of HSO3- with either benzo[a]pyrene or dimethylbenzanthracene for this biological parameter was therefore not observed.
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PMID:Effects of SO2 or NOx on toxic and genotoxic properties of chemical carcinogens. I. In vitro studies. 283 97

The repeated observation of a fall in serum enzymes at midmenstrual cycle in an untreated patient with primary biliary cirrhosis stimulated a study of estrogen administration in five patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. One patient was premenopausal, one patient was postmenopausal and three had had oophorectomy. After 2 weeks of ethinyl estradiol, AST was under 100 IU per dl in all and had decreased by 50% or more in 4 of 5 patients. gamma-glutamyltransferase and alkaline phosphatase fell by 50 and 30% or more, respectively, in all patients. The decreases in serum enzymes were statistically significant in all patients for gamma-glutamyltransferase, in 4 of 5 for AST and in 3 of 5 for alkaline phosphatase. One patient developed increased icterus leading to withdrawal of estradiol. Withdrawal of estradiol was followed by return toward control values over variable periods, usually 1 to 4 weeks. Repeated courses of estradiol reproduced these enzyme changes. These observations indicate that estradiol in the doses used (0.05 mg per day) reversibly lowers serum enzyme values in biliary cirrhosis. The mechanism of the effect is unexplained, but an immune system alteration may be responsible.
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PMID:Effect of estradiol upon serum enzymes in primary biliary cirrhosis. 288 13

The authors evaluated the Cobas FARA centrifugal analyzer with respect to pipetting precision and accuracy, instrument temperature, spectrophotometric response, and analytic performance for the assay of five serum enzymes and glucose. Spectrophotometric response, temperature response, pipetting precision, and accuracy were satisfactory. However, sufficient time must be allowed for cuvet contents to reach a stable temperature before measurements are made. Total day-to-day imprecision (within plus between run) was less than 5% (coefficient of variation) for aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST; Enzyme Commission classification number [EC] EC 2.6.1.1; and ALT; EC 2.6.1.2); alkaline phosphatase (AP; EC 3.1.3.1); gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; EC 2.3.1.2); lactate dehydrogenase (LD; EC 1.1.1.17); creatine kinase (CK; EC 2.7.3.1); and glucose assays. Results compare well with those obtained with other current clinical chemistry analyzers; correlation coefficients were greater than 0.993. Sample-to-sample carryover was negligible, and method linearity was satisfactory for all tests.
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PMID:A clinical evaluation of the Cobas Fara clinical chemistry analyzer for some routine serum enzymes and glucose. 367 42


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