Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

An antibody-lectin enzyme immunoassay (EIA) technique was developed for the analysis of sugar chains of serum alpha-fetoprotein in various liver diseases. The anti-'alpha-fetoprotein'-IgG was coated on a microtiter plate and then treated with periodic acid. A serum sample was added to the plate and then a 'peroxidase'-conjugated lectin was added. The amount of lectin bound to the sugar chain of the 'alpha-fetoprotein' was estimated from the 'peroxidase' activity. The 'peroxidase' activities of 4 different lectins, LCA, Con A, LCA and EPHA, were compared. The LCA/'wheat germ agglutinin' activity ratio and LCA/EPHA activity ratio were increased in liver diseases and LCA/'wheat germ agglutinin' ratio showed a statistically significant difference between the chronic hepatitis and the liver cirrhosis groups (p less than 0.05). Furthermore, when serum samples were pretreated with sialidase, a statistically significant difference was observed in the LCA/EPHA and LCA/Con A ratios between the chronic hepatitis and the hepatoma groups (p less than 0.05). These results indicated that low sialylation at the non-reduced end of the sugar chains of 'alpha-fetoprotein' occurs in liver cirrhosis and that high fucosylation at the reduced end of N-acetylglucosamine residue of 'alpha-fetoprotein' occurs in hepatomas.
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PMID:Alpha-fetoprotein antibody-lectin enzyme immunoassay to characterize sugar chains for the study of liver diseases. 246 50

An N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III which catalyzes the addition of N-acetylglucosamine through a beta 1-4 linkage (bisecting N-acetylglucosamine) to the beta-linked mannose of the trimannosyl core structure of N-linked oligosaccharides of glycoproteins was measured in human serum, and liver and hepatoma tissues. The enzyme activity in serum was significantly elevated in patients with hepatomas and liver cirrhosis, and the activity markedly decreased on the transcatheter arterial embolization treatment. High activities were also found in the hepatoma and cirrhotic liver tissues, indicating that the serum activity reflected the activity in the tissues. The assaying of the enzyme activity in serum appears to be useful for the detection and monitoring of primary hepatomas.
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PMID:N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III in human serum, and liver and hepatoma tissues: increased activity in liver cirrhosis and hepatoma patients. 248 96

Hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid) is a linear polysaccharide formed from disaccharide units containing N-acetylglucosamine and glucuronic acid. It is ubiquitously distributed in the organism but is found in the highest concentrations in soft connective tissues. The molecular weight of hyaluronan is usually in the order of 10(6) to 10(7). Due to hydrogen bonding, the chain is rather stiff and the molecule behaves in solution as an extended, randomly kinked coil. Molecules of hyaluronan start to entangle already at concentrations of less than 1 g/l and form a continuous polymer network. Some of the functions of the polysaccharide have been connected with the unique physical chemical characteristics of the network such as its rheological properties, flow resistance, osmotic pressure, exclusion properties and filter effect. Hyaluronan is synthesized in the cell membrane by adding monosaccharides to the reducing end of the chain. The precursors are UDP-glucuronic acid and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. The polysaccharide grows out from the cell surface and it can be shown that fibroblasts, for example, surround themselves with a coat of hyaluronan. The rate of biosynthesis is regulated by various factors, such as growth factors, hormones, inflammatory mediators, etc. The responsible enzyme, hyaluronan synthase, is a phosphoprotein and the regulation of the synthetic rate is apparently via phosphorylation. The hyaluronan is at least partly carried by lymph flow from the tissues. Part of the material is taken up and degraded in the lymph nodes. Another part is carried to the general circulation and taken up in the endothelial cells in the liver sinusoids. These cells have specific receptors for hyaluronan, which also recognize chondroitin sulphate. The uptake in the liver of high-molecular weight hyaluronan is very efficient and its normal half-life in serum is only in the order of 2 to 5 min. The polysaccharide is rapidly degraded in the lysosomes to low-molecular weight products, lactate and acetate. The total turnover of hyaluronan in serum is in the order of 10-100 mg/24 h. The normal concentration of hyaluronan in serum is less than 100 micrograms/l with a mean of 30-40 micrograms/l. High serum levels have been noted in liver cirrhosis (impaired uptake in the liver) and rheumatoid arthritis (increased synthesis in the tissues). Hyaluronan has been shown to interact specifically with certain proteins and cell surfaces. It binds to proteoglycans in cartilage and other tissues and fills an important structural role in the organization of the extra-cellular matrix.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Biochemistry of hyaluronan. 312 95

Hepatic expression of sialylated difucosyl Lex antigen (SDLex, NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-3)GlcNAc beta 1-3Gal beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-3)GlcNAc beta 1-) was studied with monoclonal antibody FH6, which defines this structure. Hepatocytes in the severe form of chronic active hepatitis and liver cirrhosis strongly expressed SDLex. The antigen was only weakly and focally detected in chronic persistent hepatitis. The mild form of chronic active hepatitis showed intermediate expression. SDLex expressed along the liver cell membranes displayed a honeycomb pattern when extensively expressed in the severe form of chronic active hepatitis or in liver cirrhosis. Cytoplasmic expression was faint and focal. Preferential tissue distribution was at the periphery of the hepatic lobules where the distruction of the limiting plate was present. The antigen was also expressed in sinusoidal lining cells and polymorphonuclear cells but not in the biliary epithelia. Hepatocytes expressing SDLex did not express related carbohydrate antigens, ie, Type 2 chain N-acetyllactosamine, Lex, and sialylated Lea. On subcellular fractionation, the microsome fraction contained the majority of the antigen activity. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis revealed one major SDLex-active glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 110 kilodaltons. This glycoprotein was different from SDLex-active glycoproteins found in the sera of cancer patients. No ganglioside showed FH6 reactivity. These results indicate that liver cells in active inflammatory lesion expressed a novel glycoprotein carrying SDLex antigen in honeycomblike membrane-associated pattern.
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PMID:Hepatocellular expression of a novel glycoprotein with sialylated difucosyl Lex activity in the active inflammatory lesions of chronic liver disease. 334 53

We isolated galactosyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.22) from pleural effusions of a lung cancer patient and a patient with cirrhosis by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, followed by gel filtration on Sepharose 6B, and affinity chromatography on columns of alpha-lactalbumin-agarose and protein A-Sepharose. By this procedure the enzyme from both sources was purified 40 000-fold with approximate yields of 37% and 60%, respectively, and did not contain immunoglobulin. Electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel of the enzyme from the cancer patient (slower moving) and from the non-cancer patient (faster moving) gave one sharp band for each. Their respective relative molecular masses, 74 131 and 107 151, were estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and gel filtration, respectively. The isoenzymes were active between pH 5 and 8, most active at 7, and showed no activity below pH 4 or above pH 9. Activity was greatest at temperatures between 37 and 40 degrees C. At 30 degrees C or 50 degrees C the activity was more than halved, and was lost completely above 60 degrees C. The isoenzymes had an absolute requirement for Mn2+. Omitting the surfactant Triton X-100 from the buffer resulted in considerable loss in activity of both isoenzymes. Glucose can be used as an acceptor for these isoenzymes if alpha-lactalbumin is present in the assay mixture. These isoenzymes had different Km values for UDP-galactose, N-acetylglucosamine, and Mn2+.
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PMID:Isolation and characterization of cancer-associated galactosyltransferase isoenzyme. 643 1

The asparagine-linked sugar chains in serum transferrin purified from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 13), healthy individuals (n = 5) and patients with liver cirrhosis (n = 6) were compared. Sugar chains released with N-glycanase from desialylated and pepsin-digested transferrin were derivatized by reductive pyridylamination. Analysis of the sugar chains by high performance liquid chromatography in combination with exoglycosidase digestion revealed an increase of a biantennary complex-type sugar chain with a fucosylated trimannosyl core; Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-2Man alpha 1-6(Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-2Man alpha 1-3) Man beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-6)GlcNAc in 7 of 13 cancer patients and an increase of a sugar chain with a fucosylated trimannosyl core and bisecting N-acetylglucosamine; Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-2Man alpha 1-6(GlcNAc beta 1-4) (Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-2Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-6)GlcNAc in one of the 13 cancer patients. Further, the fucosylated alteration of the sugar chain was detected also in alpha 1-antitrypsin, hemopexin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein and alpha 2-HS glycoprotein from one of the patients with increased fucosylated transferrin.
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PMID:Alteration of asparagine-linked glycosylation in serum transferrin of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. 817 73

Succinylated wheat germ agglutinin, specified by the amino sugar beta(4)-N-acetylglucosamine, bound frequently to the endothelial cells of the hepatic arterial branches and small vessels of the peribiliary capillary plexus, while it did not bind to the endothelial cells of venous vessels such as portal vein branches and hepatic venous radicles, nor to lymphatic vessels. Sinusoidal endothelial cells were also negative for succinylated wheat germ agglutinin. Proliferating small vessels in the enlarged portal tracts and fibrous septa in patients with extrahepatic biliary obstruction or chronic active hepatitis with or without cirrhosis tended to be positive for succinylated wheat germ agglutinin. Such findings have not been previously reported, to the best of our knowledge. Thus, succinylated wheat germ agglutinin may be a new and useful histochemical tool in routinely processed tissue sections to discriminate intrahepatic vessels into several categories, particularly into two categories (arterial and other vessels), in normal as well as diseased livers.
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PMID:Succinylated wheat germ agglutinin lectin binding in intrahepatic vessels. A new histochemical tool. 834 44

N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase III (GnT III) catalyses the addition of N-acetylglucosamine through a beta 1-4 linkage to the mannose of the trimannosyl core, resulting in conversion of the concanavalin A (Con A)-reactive glycan into a non-reactive state. In this study, we measured GnT III activity to evaluate its diagnostic efficacy and its therapeutic effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Concanavalin A-non-reactive fraction of serum transferrin (Tf) was also determined since the sugar chains of Tf are one of the possible candidates for the product of GnT III. Serum samples (159) were used from patients with HCC (89), liver cirrhosis (30), chronic hepatitis (19), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) producing gastric carcinoma metastatic to the liver (five) and healthy controls (16). N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase III activity was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The reactivity of serum Tf to Con A was also analysed in 21 paired HCC samples before and after treatment by crossed immuno-affinoelectrophoresis. N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase III activity from the HCC group (153 +/- 72pmol/mL/h) was significantly higher than that from liver cirrhosis (99 +/- 67 pmol/mL per h), chronic hepatitis (84 +/- 39 pmol/mL per h) and the normal controls (62 +/- 16 pmol/mL per h). N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase III activity of 21 patients with HCC was significantly reduced after treatment such as transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and/or percutaneous ethanol infection therapy, (123 +/- 77 to 100 +/- 60 pmol/mL per h). Commensurate decreases of AFP and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin with GnT III activity were also observed after treatment. The Con A-non-reactive fraction (n = 21; 6.4 +/- 2.3%) in patients with HCC after treatment was significantly lower than before (8.2 +/- 2.4%). The present study suggests that GnT III activity is a possible aid in the diagnosis and evaluation of HCC, especially when other tumour markers are negative.
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PMID:Serum N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III activities in hepatocellular carcinoma. 971 5

The N-linked sugar chain structures of human hepatic, intestinal, and placental alkaline phosphatases (ALPs) were studied comparatively by chromatography on various lectin columns in combination with digestion by several kinds of exoglycosidases. The sugar chain structures were organ specific. On the basis of these organ-specific structures, we investigated serum ALP using a Neu5Ac(alpha)2-->6Gal(beta)1-->4 GlcNAc-specific Trichosanthes japonica agglutinin-I (TJA-I)-Sepharose column to clarify whether the level of TJA-I-binding serum ALP activity can be used as an indicator to discriminate one form of chronic liver disease from another. Levels of TJA-I-binding ALP in serum were higher in cases of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma than in chronic hepatitis (P < 0.01). The levels of TJA-I-binding ALP in serum did not change significantly after transcatheter arterial embolization, and the amounts of TJA-I-binding ALP activity in noncancerous cirrhotic liver tissues were higher than those in cancerous liver tissues derived from hepatocellular carcinoma patients, indicating that the TJA-I-binding ALP is mainly derived from cirrhotic liver tissues rather than cancerous liver tissues. These results indicate that analysis of the levels of TJA-I-binding ALP in serum is clinically useful for differentiating liver cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis and that altered sugar chain expression in ALP occurs mainly in liver cirrhosis.
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PMID:Elevated serum levels of Trichosanthes japonica agglutinin-I binding alkaline phosphatase in relation to high-risk groups for hepatocellular carcinomas. 982 41

A new method for determination of alpha1,6fucosyltransferase activity has been described. Recently, the disialyl-biantennary undecasaccharide was prepared in high yield from egg yolk [(1996), Carbohydr Lett 2: 137-42]. By treatment of this oligosaccharide with neuraminidase and beta-galactosidase, we readily obtained an asialo-agalacto-biantennary heptasaccharide (GlcNAcbeta 1,2Manalpha1,6[GlcNAcbeta1,2Manalpha1,3]Manbeta1 ,4GlcNAcbeta1,4GlcNAc). Using this asialo-agalacto-oligosaccharide as an acceptor, fucosyltransferases from human plasma and extracts of various human hepatoma cell lines were assayed in the presence of GDP-[3H]fucose. The reaction mixture was applied to a column of GlcNAc-binding, Psathyrella velutina lectin coupled gel. All the fucosylated acceptor were bound to the column which was eluted with 50 mM GlcNAc. Structural analyses revealed that only the innermost GlcNAc residue of the acceptor was fucosylated through an alpha1,6-linkage, and the oligosaccharide prepared could be used as a specific acceptor for alpha1,6fucosyltransferase. The present method was used to screen plasma alpha1,6fucosyltransferase in several patient groups, and significantly elevated activities were found in samples from patients with liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.
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PMID:A novel method for determination of alpha1,6fucosyltransferase activity using a reducing oligosaccharide from egg yolk as a specific acceptor. 1005 90


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