Ewa Maria Kratz

Wroclaw Medical University · Department of Laboratory Diagnostics

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are connective tissue autoimmune diseases. The present study aimed to check whether serum clusterin (CLU) concentration and its glycosylation pattern may be markers differentiating these diseases—blood sera of patients with PsA (n = 37), RA (n = 34), and healthy subjects (control, n = 21) were...

Citation: Kratz, E.M.; Sołkiewicz, K.; Jędryka, M. The Degree of Branching of Serum IgG N-glycans as a Marker of Advanced Endometriosis. Molecules 2024, 29, 5136. https://doi. Abstract: Endometriosis is a gynecological disease for which the diagnostics are difficult and often invasive; therefore, non-invasive diagnostic methods using sensitive and...

Male infertility is a pressing global issue, prompting the need for biomarkers correlating with seminal parameters for diagnosis. Our study investigated 10 biochemical and energetic parameters in the seminal plasma and blood sera of fertile (25 subjects) and infertile (88 subjects) Polish men, correlations between their levels in seminal plasma and...

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Glycoprotein clusterin (CLU) has many functions such as phagocyte recruitment, complement system inhibition, apoptosis inhibition, hormone and lipid transport, as well as in the immune response. The study aimed to assess the changes in CLU concentrations and the profile and degree of...

Introduction Immunoglobulin G (IgG) glycosylation affects its effector functions and is essential in many steps of the inflammatory cascade. Therefore, it may be an important parameter for assessing the body’s immune response during the course of COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019). Methods The N- and O-glycosylation of serum IgG in severe COVID-1...

Background: Endometriosis is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease that causes the growth of endometriallike tissue outside the uterus. Diagnostics of this disease are difficult, often invasive, and time-consuming, therefore non-invasive diagnostic methods and parameters are very desirable in endometriosis detection. Objectives: The study aimed t...

About 15% of couples worldwide are affected by infertility, with the male factor responsible for approximately 50% of reproductive failures. Male fertility can be influenced by various factors, including an unhealthy lifestyle and diet, often associated with oxidative stress. These changes are frequently the reason for spermatozoan dysfunction, mal...

Oxidative stress (OS) is one of the reasons for male infertility. Seminal plasma contains a multitude of enzymes and ions which influence OS and thus may affect male fertility. The aim of the study was to check for associations between seminal plasma advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) concentrations and levels of selected biochemical parame...

Nearly 30% of infertility cases are caused by male factor. This study aimed at checking the associations between the sialylation degree of glycoprotein clusterin (CLU) and levels of oxidative–antioxidant balance markers in infertile men. Using lectin-ELISA with biotinylated lectins specific to α2,6-linked (Sambucus nigra agglutinin, SNA) and α2,3-l...

The present review gathers together the most important information about variability in clusterin molecular structure, its profile, and the degree of glycosylation occurring in human tissues and body fluids in the context of the utility of these characteristics as potential diagnostic biomarkers of selected pathophysiological conditions. The carboh...

We verified whether caffeinated coffee consumption influenced the concentrations of prolactin (PRL) and oxidative stress parameters: total antioxidant status (TAS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), uric acid (UA), total bilirubin (T-Bil),...

Endometriosis is a gynecological disease, the pathogenesis of which seems to be directly related to inflammatory processes with an immune basis. Our study aimed to analyze the O-glycosylation of native serum IgG and IgG isolated from sera of women with advanced endometriosis, without endometriosis but with benign gynecological diseases, and from a...

Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases among young women of reproductive age. Thus far, it has not been possible to define a parameter that is sensitive and specific enough to be a recognized biomarker for diagnosing this disease. Nonspecific symptoms of endometriosis and delayed diagnosis are impulses for researching noninv...

The study aimed to assess the strength of the relationships between small dense low-density lipoproteins (sdLDL) and other parameters describing metabolic disorders and determine which of the lipid profile parameters can be used as markers of increased sdLDL concentration. The proposed model of sdLDL (examined by heparin–magnesium precipitation met...

Background Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease leading to the growth of endometrial-like tissue outside of the uterus, which affects approximately 10% of young women of reproductive potential. The diagnosis of this disease is difficult, often invasive and time-consuming, therefore non-invasive diagnostic methods are strongly desirable in endom...

Background Studies conducted so far have focused mainly on the assessment of IL-6 levels in patients with ruptured brain aneurysms. Carrying out detailed studies in patients with un-ruptured brain aneurysms (UIA) would be extremely important, as it would answer the question of whether IL-6 plays also a role in primary aneurysm formation and growth....

Nowadays, caffeine is one of the most commonly consumed substances, which presents in many plants and products. It has both positive and negative effects on the human body, and its activity concerns a variety of systems including the central nervous system, immune system, digestive system, respiratory system, urinary tract, etc. These effects are d...

In the seminal plasma (n = 118) and serum (n = 90) clusterin (CLU) the fucosylation and the expression of selected fucosyltransferases (FUTs) were analyzed. Samples from infertile men were divided into groups based on the results of the standard semen analysis: normozoospermic (N), teratozoospermic (T), asthenoteratozoospermic (AT) and oligoastheno...

Can redox homeostasis indicators be potential non-invasive markers, crucial in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis? We checked if the differences in levels of serum oxidative-antioxidant balance parameters (TAS, FRAP, albumin, total bilirubin, uric acid, iron, SIRT3, SIRT5, SIRT6, telomerase, AOPP) are significant between patients with adv...

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), a 34-kDa glycoprotein, as part of the high-density lipoprotein (HDL), has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiatherogenic properties. The variability of ApoE expression in the course of some female fertility disorders (endometriosis, POCS), and other gynecological pathologies such as breast cancer, choriocarcinoma, endom...

It is well known that various inflammatory cells infiltrate cancer cells. Next to TAMs (tumor-associated macrophages), TAFs (tumor-associated fibroblasts) and TANs (tumor-associated neutrophils) also platelets form the tumor microenvironment. Taking into account the role of platelets in the development of cancer, we have decided to introduce a new...

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease which diagnostics is difficult and often invasive, therefore non-invasive diagnostics methods and parameters are needed for endometriosis detection. The aim of our study was to analyse the glycosylation of native serum IgG and IgG isolated from sera of women classified as: with endometriosis, without endomet...

Streszczenie Sirtuiny (SIRT) są deacetylazami histonów zależnymi od NAD ⁺ , które odgrywają istotną rolę w funkcjonowaniu organizmu ludzkiego. Przypisuje się im udział w licznych procesach zachodzących w komórkach m.in. w potranslacyjnej modyfikacji białek, wyciszaniu transkrypcji genów, indukowaniu procesów naprawczych, a także w regulacji procesó...

Endometriosis is a gynecological disease, the pathogenesis of which seems to be directly associated with inflammatory processes. Serum concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, hs-CRP, IgG, YKL 40 and PRL, in comparison to the well-known CA 125 levels, were studied with the aim of identifying an additional noninvasive inflammatory marker or set of markers cha...

The participation of sirtuins in the regulation of oxidative stress and inflammation lies at the basis of their possible modes of action and is related to their expression in various cell structures; their location in the mitochondria and blood plasma has been indicated as of primary importance. Despite many existing studies, research on sirtuins c...

Sirtuins (SIRTs), enzymes from the family of NAD+-dependent histone deacetylases, play an important role in the functioning of the body at the cellular level and participate in many biochemical processes. The multi-directionality of SIRTs encourages scientists to undertake research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of their action and the influ...

Inflammatory mediators - chitotriosidase-1 (CHIT1) and leukocyte elastase (LE) - were analyzed in human seminal plasma in relation to total antioxidative status (TAS) and pro-inflammatory markers IL-1β and IL-6. Samples collected from 34 males who were part of infertile couples were divided into normozoospermic (N; n = 12, without symptoms of infla...

Male infertility is becoming a rapidly growing problem around the world, mainly in the highly developed countries. Seminal proteome composition seems to be one of the crucial factors of the proper course of fertilization ‐ clusterin (CLU) is among the most important ones. CLU, as one of the crucial seminal plasma glycoproteins, plays a very importa...

The present work aims at accessing the stability of biological material stored for diagnostic and scientific purposes. The influence of the temperature, storage time, and cyclic thawing on concentration stability of selected oxidative stress parameters in human serum was investigated. The study group consisted of 20 serum samples collected from hea...

In the XXIst century in highly developed countries, progressively decreasing male reproductive potential is indicated. In recent years epidemiological studies indicate the deterioration of semen parameters: reduction of ejaculate volume, sperm count, and mobility, as well as abnormalities in their morphology. Male infertility can result from many d...

In recent years, bladder cancer (BC) has been reported as one of the most commonly occurring cancers among older people, and its detection is still difficult. Therefore, there is a need to search for additional useful markers of disease. Some studies indicate the important roles of inflammation and oxidative stress (OS) in bladder tumour pathogenes...

According to a concept of fetoembryonic defence, protein–carbohydrate interaction may be involved in the regulation of maternal immunity that prevents rejection of allograft spermatozoa, embryo and fetus. In the present study we focussed on the evaluation of the expression of glycoepitopes that may be of crucial importance in this process: LewisY (...

Currently, in highly developed, industrialized countries male factors are identified as the primary cause of infertility in about 60% of childless couples. Standard semen analysis parameters, such as sperm morphology, number and motility, are important in predicting the fertility of large populations, but they are not sufficient to fully specify a...

Objectives: Investigation of long-term dynamic changes of salivary activity/output of exoglycosidases, deglycosylation processes and their applicability as alcohol markers. Methods: Exoglycosidase (α-fucosidase (FUC), β-galactosidase (GAL), β-glucuronidase (GLU), β-hexosaminidase (HEX, HEX A and HEX B isoenzymes) and α-mannosidase (MAN)) activities...

Human blood plasma chitotriosidase (CHIT1) is a glycoprotein with chitinolytic activity with not fully elucidated biological function. Its increased level is observed in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and is associated with development of diabetic complications. The CHIT1 glycosylation profile and degree is still poorly studied and never investiga...

In the paper titled “The Analysis of Sialylation, N-Glycan Branching, and Expression of O-Glycans in Seminal Plasma of Infertile Men” [1], there was an error in the Acknowledgment, which should be corrected as follows:

The impact of seminal plasma components on the fertilization outcomes in humans is still under question. The increasing number of couples facing problems with conception raises the need for predictive biomarkers. Detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms accompanying fertilization remains another challenge. Carbohydrate-protein recognition...

Carbohydrates are known to mediate some events involved in successful fertilization. Although some studies on the glycosylation of seminal plasma proteins are available, the total glycan profile was rarely analyzed as a feature influencing fertilization potential. In this work we aimed to compare some glycosylation traits in seminal plasma glycopro...

The expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) may be regulated by oxidative stress in various pathophysiological processes; therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyse the associations between the expression of the gelatinases MMP-9 and MMP-2 and their tissue inhibitors TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and levels of total antioxidant cap...

Fucose, the monosaccharide frequent in N- and O-glycans, is a part of Lewis-type antigens that are known to mediate direct sperm binding to the zona pellucida. Such interaction was found to be inhibited in vitroby fucose-containing oligo- and polysaccharides, as well as neoglycoproteins. The objective of this study was to screen seminal plasma prot...

Melatonin, an indolamine secreted by the pineal gland, is known as a powerful free-radical scavenger and wide-spectrum antioxidant. Therefore, the aim of this study was to correlate markers of oxidative protein damage (advanced oxidation protein products, AOPPs) and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) with melatonin levels in the seminal plasma of...

The aim of our pilot study was to check whether the differences in IgA secretory component (SC) sialylation are associated with leucocytospermia. In normozoospermic and leucocytospermic seminal plasmas, 78-kDa and 63-kDa SC immunoreactive bands were observed. The SC sialylation was analysed by lectin blotting, using sialo-specific lectins MAA (Maac...

Glycosylation of serum proteins is affected with prolonged heavy drinking, and carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) is well established and highly specific biomarker of sustained alcohol consumption. However, total amount of sialic acid is not the only glycoepitope that may be altered as a result of the disease. This work is focused on glycan s...

Our study compares the status of human seminal plasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA secretory component (SC) fucosylation between infertile leukocytospermic and normal, fertile normozoospermic patients. The seminal IgG and SC are decorated with AAL-reactive core fucose, and antennary UEA- and LTA-reactive fucose of Lewis(y) and Lewis(x) structures...

Introduction: Cancer-related carbohydrate epitopes, which are regarded as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, are carried on the main acute phase proteins. It is not clear, however, if the glycosylation profile is similar in different glycoproteins, or it is protein specific to some extent. The aim of the study was to compare fucosylati...

The aim of the work was to analyse fibronectin (FN) domain immunoreactivities and profiles of FN fragmentation in seminal plasmas of fertile normozoospermic and infertile leucocytospermic male patients. ELISA with domain-specific monoclonal antibodies and immunoblotting were used in these measurements. Immunoblotting of normal and leucocytospermic...

Introduction: Cancer-related carbohydrate epitopes, which are regarded as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, are carried on the main acute phase proteins. It is not clear, however, if the glycosylation profile is similar in different glycoproteins, or it is protein specific to some extent. The aim of the study was to compare fucosylat...

Context: Disturbed protein-carbohydrate interactions may underlie the molecular mechanism of some diseases of the male reproductive tract, including infertility and prostate diseases. Objective: To summarize the current knowledge on the glycosylation patterns of glycodelin-S, fibronectin, prostate-specific antigen, and α(1)-acid glycoprotein. R...

The aim of this study was to compare fucose and sialic acid residue expression on fibronectin and α{1}-acid glycoprotein in the seminal plasma of men suspected of infertility and suffering from leukocytospermia. Seminal ejaculates were collected from 27 leukocytospermic and 18 healthy, normozoospermic men. The relative degree of fucosylation and si...

Fertilization, the fusion of male and female gametes, is an incompletely known, multistep, complex process, in which many factors participate. Fertilization is a precisely regulated, species-specific process, but some cellular mechanisms are similar for many mammal species. The studies of mechanisms of male and female gamete production enable under...

The expressions of some terminal glycotopes of synovial immunoglobulins G, A, and M were analysed in relation to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progression defined according to early and advanced radiological changes in patients’ hands. The relative amounts of terminal monosaccharides were determined by lectin-immunoblotting of immunoglobulin preparatio...

Sialic acid isoforms expressed on glycoconjugates are known to be involved in different biological functions. The aim of this study was to compare alpha2,3- and/or alpha2,6-linked sialic acid expression on fibronectin in the seminal plasma of male partners from infertile couples. The data obtained were analyzed in relation to normal and abnormal se...

Background. The secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) is known to participate in the first line of immunological defense of genitourinary tract mucous membrane surface. In human seminal plasma apart from secretory IgA and IgA, the free secretory component (SC) has been found. In genitourinary tract secretions dominate the IgA2 subclass, which is more r...

The degree of branching and types of fucosylation of glycans on alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein (AGP) have been found to be associated with alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein concentrations in human seminal plasma. The glycosylation pattern of alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein in seminal plasma obtained from men living in infertile couples can undergo alterations in r...

This study was aimed at determining whether dental caries is associated with induction of the systemic immune system or cytokine response. For this purpose, 85 children from Den Pasar, Bali, Indonesia, aged 6-7 years, were examined clinically and blood plasma was obtained via finger puncture. The concentrations of the acute-phase protein alpha(1)-a...

Changes in concentration of seminal plasma alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein (AGP) have been studied in detail before. However, the source of high levels of AGP as well as the glycosylation of seminal plasma AGP has not been elucidated yet. The glycosylation of AGP was studied by crossed affinity immunoelectrophoresis using fucose-specific lectins and imm...

During uterus contractions detaching of amino-chorionic layer from uterus wall occurs and released fibronectin penetrates into amniotic fluid. The aim of this study was to estimate in a quantity mode the presence of fibronectin in amniotic fluid and to find the dependence between the fibronectin level in amniotic fluid and the period of time from c...