Liquid biopsy recently became a very promising diagnostic method that has several advantages over conventional invasive methods. Liquid biopsy may serve as a source of several important biomarkers including cell-free nucleic acids (cf-NAs). Cf-DNA is widely used in prenatal testing in order to characterize fetal genetic disorders. Analysis of cf-DNA may provide information about the mutation profile of tumor cells, while cell-free non-coding RNAs are promising biomarker candidates in the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. Many of these markers have the potential to help clinicians in therapy selection and in the follow-up of patients. Thus, cf-NA-based diagnostics represent a new path in personalized medicine. Although several reviews are available in the field, most of them focus on a limited number of cf-NA types. In this review, we give an overview about all known cf-NAs including cf-DNA, cf-mtDNA and cell-free non-coding RNA (miRNA, lncRNA, circRNA, piRNA, YRNA, and vtRNA) by discussing their biogenesis, biological function and potential as biomarker candidates in liquid biopsy. We also outline possible future directions in the field.

No abstract

The antibiotic resistance pattern of 1921 Staphylococcus strains isolated from animals and food within the last two years were examined using diffusion tests. Among them there were only 35 strains of S. aureus having an inhibition zone diameter of 15 mm or less, and 4 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) having a zone diameter of 18 mm or less to 1-µg oxacillin disk. These 39 strains were examined also by E-test to oxacillin and for the detection of the mecA gene by PCR in order to determine whether they might be real methicillinresistant staphylococci. Among the 39 strains there were only two that were susceptible to penicillin by disk diffusion method; however, further examination by the penicillinase test showed that they produced β-lactamase. While 19 (15 S. aureus, 4 CNS) strains were resistant and 7 strains were intermediate to oxacillin in disk diffusion test, the E-test gave 8 resistant and 5 intermediate results. Six out of the 8 oxacillin-resistant strains examined by disk diffusion and E-test harboured the mecA gene. Thus only 6 out of the examined 1921 strains proved to be mecA positive. These methicillin-resistant, mecA-positive strains (5 of the S. aureus strains and 1 of the S. epidermidis) originated from two dairy herds. The results prove that methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains in animals are really rare in Hungary. Eighteen strains were chosen and screened for minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oxacillin with or without clavulanic acid or sulbactam, and three of them produced methicillinase enzyme.

Background: Borderline methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is due to β-lactamase overproduction and/or specific methicillinases. Methods: β-Lactamase activity in culture supernatants and in cytoplasmic membrane fractions was estimated by bioassay and by SDS-PAGE combined with nitrocefin assay. Results: During the investigation of borderline methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (BORSA) strains VU94 and 822 two β-lactamases were detected in the membranes, with molecular weights of 13 and 30 kDa. The latter could be found in the culture supernatants, too. In the presence of globomycin, this enzyme disappeared from the membrane, and the oxacillin-hydrolyzing activity of the membrane decreased to the level of susceptible strains. Both β-lactamases were detected in the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain studied, but the susceptible strains possessed only the first enzyme. Conclusions: The 30-kDa β-lactamase proved to be a methicillinase, and it can be one of the main causes of the borderline phenotype of BORSA strains. The other enzyme is one of the smallest β-lactamases published to date.

No abstract