Dramatic increase in serum trypsinogens, SPINK1 and hCGβ in aortic surgery patients after hypothermic circulatory arrest

Abstract

The concentrations of several diagnostic markers have been found to increase dramatically in critically ill patients with a severe disturbance of normal physiological homeostasis, without indication of the diseases they are normally associated with. To prevent false diagnoses and inappropriate treatments of critically ill patients, it is important that the markers aiding the selection of second-line treatments are evaluated in such patients and not only in the healthy population and patients with diseases the markers are associated with. The levels of trypsinogen isoenzymes, the trypsin inhibitor serine peptidase inhibitor Kazal type 1 (SPINK1), hCG and hCGb, which are used as pancreatitis and cancer markers, were analyzed by immunoassays from serum samples of 17 adult patients who have undergone surgery of the ascending aorta during hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) with optional selective cerebral perfusion. Highly elevated levels of trypsinogen-1,-2 and-3, SPINK1 and hCGb were observed in patients after HCA. This was accompanied by increased concentrations of S100b and NSE. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of critically evaluating the markers used for aiding selection of second line of treatments in critically ill patients.

The Role of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Beta (hCGβ) in HPV-Positive and HPV-Negative Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Additionally, our study is the first to utilize both serum and tumor tissue in patients with OPSCC. However, benign conditions associated with hCGβ upregulation were not taken into consideration in our analysis [ 27 , 28 ].…”