Archival Blood Spots. Cerebral Palsy and Autism Studies

分析新生儿档案干血斑点中的多种分析物是评估出生时存在的一系列生物事件(炎症、免疫功能障碍、凝血功能异常)的宝贵工具。开发了一种循环免疫亲和层析(RIC)系统，用于在层析滤纸上干燥的鞋跟刺血斑约三分之一中分离和测量多达52种不同的分析物。该系统允许研究人员在同一样本中检查和比较许多重要的生物系统。应用于从临床诊断为脑瘫和自闭症的儿童身上获得的样本，独特的模式开始出现。在脑性瘫痪患者中，某些细胞因子的升高与患者的临床状态相关，而在自闭症患者中，某些神经肽显示出类似的趋势。这些研究正在扩展到对其他档案材料队列的检查和扩展可检测到的分析物的阵列。此外，正在使用质谱仪进行研究，以确定所测量的分子的物理化学特征，并评估它们作为临床生物标记物的潜力。

Analysis of multiple analytes in archival dried blood spots obtained from newborn infants is a valuable tool for assessing a number of biological events (inflammation, immune dysfunction, coagulation abnormalities) present at birth. A recycling immunoaffinity chromatographic (RIC) system has been developed for isolating and measuring up to 52 different analytes in approximately one third of a heel stab blood spot dried on chromatography filter paper. This system allows investigators to examine and compare a number of important biological systems within the same sample. Applied to samples obtained from children with clinical diagnoses of cerebral palsy and autism, distinct patterns are beginning to emerge. In cerebral palsy, elevations of certain cytokines demonstrated a correlation with the clinical status of the patient while in autism certain neuropeptides demonstrated a similar trend. These studies are being extended to examination of other cohorts of archival materials and to extending the array of detectable analytes. Additionally, studies are being performed using mass spectrometry to determine the physico-chemical characteristics of the molecules measured and evaluating their potential as clinical biomarkers.