Publications by authors named "Haris Babacic"

Melanoma brain metastases (MBM) exhibit extensive intertumor and intratumor heterogeneity (ITH), driven by a complex tumor microenvironment. The aim of this study was to perform a detailed analysis of individual MBM patient tumors using a multiomics approach, integrating spatial transcriptomics with multi-region bulk exome, proteome, and transcriptome profiling for a small group of four patient samples. We identified significant patient-specific variations in immune cell infiltration, particularly in B/plasma cells, myeloid cells, and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs).

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Article Synopsis
  • - The R-PAct scale is designed to measure how Pompe disease affects daily life, and this study aimed to validate it for use in different languages and countries.
  • - Researchers created German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions of the scale and collected data from Pompe patients in several countries, combining it with existing data for analysis.
  • - Results showed that the modified R-PAct scale is valid and effectively measures two key areas of patient activity, with a minor adjustment made to improve its reliability across diverse populations.
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COVID-19 is characterised by systemic immunological perturbations in the human body, which can lead to multi-organ damage. Many of these processes are considered to be mediated by the blood. Therefore, to better understand the systemic host response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, we performed systematic analyses of the circulating, soluble proteins in the blood through global proteomics by mass-spectrometry (MS) proteomics.

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Background: COVID-19 remains a major public health challenge, requiring the development of tools to improve diagnosis and inform therapeutic decisions. As dysregulated inflammation and coagulation responses have been implicated in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and sepsis, we studied their plasma proteome profiles to delineate similarities from specific features.

Methods: We measured 276 plasma proteins involved in Inflammation, organ damage, immune response and coagulation in healthy controls, COVID-19 patients during acute and convalescence phase, and sepsis patients; the latter included (i) community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by Influenza, (ii) bacterial CAP, (iii) non-pneumonia sepsis, and (iv) septic shock patients.

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Glioblastoma (GBM) cancer stem cells (GSCs) contribute to GBM's origin, recurrence, and resistance to treatment. However, the understanding of how mRNA expression patterns of GBM subtypes are reflected at global proteome level in GSCs is limited. To characterize protein expression in GSCs, we performed in-depth proteogenomic analysis of patient-derived GSCs by RNA-sequencing and mass-spectrometry.

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Approximately half of metastatic cutaneous melanomas (CM) harbor a mutation in the BRAF protooncogene, upregulating the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-pathway. The development of inhibitors targeting the MAPK pathway (MAPKi), i.e.

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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly improved the outcome in metastatic cutaneous melanoma (CM). However, therapy response is limited to subgroups of patients and clinically useful predictive biomarkers are lacking.

Methods: To discover treatment-related systemic changes in plasma and potential biomarkers associated with treatment outcome, we analyzed serial plasma samples from 24 patients with metastatic CM, collected before and during ICI treatment, with mass-spectrometry-based global proteomics (high-resolution isoelectric focusing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HiRIEF LC-MS/MS)) and targeted proteomics with proximity extension assays (PEAs).

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Background: Myositis-associated antibodies (MAA) and myositis-specific antibodies (MSA) are detected in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM); their role as diagnostic biomarkers is however still debated. The aim of our study was to assess the utility of MAA/MSA assessed by new line immunoassays in detecting myositis among neuromuscular patients.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed sera samples obtained from patients tested for myositis antibodies with the "Euroline: Autoimmune Inflammatory Myopathies 16Ag" and "myositis profile 3" kits (Mi-2, TIF1γ, MDA5, NXP2, SAE1, Jo-1, SRP, PL-7/12, EJ, OJ, Ro-52, Ku, PM-Scl75/100).

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Introduction: The system of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated proteins (cas) is a new technology that allows easier manipulation of the genome. Its potential to edit genes opened a new door in treatment development for incurable neurological monogenic diseases (NMGDs). The aim of this systematic review was to summarise the findings on the current development of CRISPR-cas for therapeutic purposes in the most frequent NMGDs and provide critical assessment.

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Background: In patients with late-onset Pompe disease, progressive respiratory muscle weakness with predominantly diaphragmatic involvement is a frequent finding at later stages of the disease. Respiratory muscle training (RMT) is an established therapy option for patients with several neuromuscular disorders including Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Forced voluntary muscle contractions of inspiration and/or expiration muscles enhance ventilation by increasing respiratory coordination, endurance, and strength.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how different criteria for assessing lung function (FVC, FEV1, MIP, MEP) agree in patients with myotonic dystrophy (DM), focusing on two sets of cut-off values: expert recommendations and reference ranges.
  • Using statistical methods, the results show perfect agreement for FEV1, substantial for MIP, and weak for FVC and MEP between the two approaches, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each.
  • Ultimately, the research suggests that reference ranges are preferable for assessing lung function due to their sensitivity to population variability, while also calling for improved methods to calculate normal lung pressure limits and emphasizing the robustness of the B statistic for agreement measurement.
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Background: MS symptoms affect many functional domains. Knowing the specific impact of symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is vital for successful disease and symptom management in MS. We aimed at investigating how specific MS symptoms contribute to the disease burden in individuals and from a population perspective.

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