Anti-CPB2 monoclonal antibody, clone BIUBGJ-5025

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a major global health burden. Liver fibrosis, an insidious process, is the main histopathological change in CHB that might lead to the end-stage liver disease if left untreated. The intermediate liver fibrosis (S2) is the optimal time to start antiviral therapy. The aim of the present study was to examine the proteomic changes in patients with CHB at different fibrotic stages, with a view to identify future serum biomarkers for S2. Ninety CHB patients were grouped into mild (S0-1), intermediate (S2), and severe liver fibrosis (S3-4) (61 men and 29 women; age 25-63 years). Isobaric tagging for relative and absolute quantitation was applied to screen proteins differentially expressed among the patient groups. Another 46 patients with CHB (age 25-59 years; 31 men and 15 women), and 16 healthy controls (age 26-61 years; 11 men and 5 women) were enrolled in a validation group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to verify the diagnostic value of the candidate biomarkers. We found 139 proteins that were differentially expressed between various fibrotic stage-paired comparisons. Five protein candidates were selected as potential biomarkers of S2 for further verification. Notably, ficolin-2 (FCN2) and carboxypeptidase B2 (CPB2) showed differential expression between patients and healthy controls. In conclusion, serum proteomic changes reported here offer new molecular leads for future research on biomarker candidates to identify liver fibrotic stages in CHB. In particular, FCN2 and CPB2 warrant further research on their possible mechanistic involvement in CHB pathogenesis.

Since 2006 increasing numbers of laying hen flocks with decreased production have been reported in the Netherlands. At necropsy, birds from affected flocks showed multifocal areas of necrosis in the duodenum. Histologically the duodenum had moderate to marked villus atrophy and fusion with crypt hyperplasia and a mixed inflammatory infiltrate within the lamina propria underlying focal areas of degenerative epithelium. Multifocally, free within the intestinal lumen and associated with epithelial necrosis, were marked numbers of large rod-shaped bacteria. Anaerobic culturing and subsequent toxin typing revealed, in 19 out of 73 affected birds, the presence of Clostridium perfringens strains, either type A or type C harbouring the atypical allele of cpb2 and netB. Eighteen out of these 19 birds carried C. perfringens strains capable of producing beta2 toxin in vitro and all of these birds harboured C. perfringens strains capable of producing NetB toxin in vitro. In contrast, specific pathogen free (SPF) birds lacked gross or histological lesions in their duodenum, and C. perfringens type C was isolated from four out of 15 SPF birds tested. One of these isolates harboured the consensus three allele of cpb2 that produced beta2 toxin in vitro. None of the C. perfringens isolates originating from SPF birds harboured netB. These findings might indicate that the NetB toxin produced by C. perfringens is associated with subclinical necrotic enteritis in layers, whereas the involvement of beta2 toxin in subclinical necrotic enteritis, if any, might be variant dependent.