International Journal of Molecular Science is instituting an annual award to recognize outstanding papers in the area of chemistry, molecular physics and molecular biology published in International Journal of Molecular Science. We are pleased to announce the third “International Journal of Molecular Science Best Paper Award” for 2014 [1,2]. Nominations were made by the Section Editors-in-Chief of International Journal of Molecular Science from all papers published in 2010. [...] Full article

Galactomannan (GM) is widely used for detection of invasive aspergillosis in high-risk haemato-oncology patients. Recent publications have reported a lack of repeatability of GM detection. The objective of this retrospective study was to assess the repeatability of GM levels during storage of clinical samples. In a GM screening strategy, positive sera were repeat tested as per manufacturer’s recommendations. Short-term (ST) storage of samples was at +4 °C while long-term (LT) storage was at −80 °C. Bronchoalveolar (BAL) fluid was also repeating tested after ST storage and LT storage. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was employed to assess the repeatability of GM levels. In a subset of 14 GM positive sera, repeat testing was performed on both the original serum and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) pre-treated sample. There was a significant reduction in GM signals on repeat testing following ST storage (median GM index: 0.65 vs. 0.19; p < 0.001) and LT storage (median GM index: 0.56 vs. 0.10; p < 0.001) of serum samples. Of samples that were initially GM positive, an average GM index reduction of 50% was seen, with approximately two-thirds becoming GM negative on repeat testing of the same sample. In contrast, GM signal loss was not seen on repeat testing of BAL fluid following ST or LT storage. When GM positive serum samples were repeat tested using EDTA pre-treated serum from the first step of the testing protocol, all samples remained GM positive. In contrast, when the same samples were repeat tested from the original collected serum, 9 samples (64%) became GM negative. The significant reduction in GM signals during ST and LT storage of serum samples has implications for clinical management. Although the reasons for GM decline are unknown, they occur prior to the EDTA pre-treatment stage, indicating that the time from phlebotomy to testing should be minimized. BAL fluid GM index values remain stable. Full article

Nodal status is one of the most important prognostic factors in breast cancer. Established tests such as touch imprint cytology and frozen sections currently used in the intra-operative setting show variations in sensitivity and specificity. This limitation has led to the development of molecular alternatives, such as GeneSearch, a commercial intra-operative real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) assay that allows the surgeon to carry out axillary clearance as a one-step process. Since GeneSearch has been discontinued, we have developed the replacement Metasin assay, which targets the breast epithelial cell markers CK19 and mammaglobin mRNA and identifies metastatic disease in sentinel lymph nodes. The optimised assay can be completed within 32 min (6 min for RNA preparation and 26 min instrument run time), making its use feasible in the intraoperative setting. An analysis by Metasin of 154 archived lymph node homogenates previously analysed by both parallel histology and GeneSearch showed concordance for 148 cases. The sensitivity and specificity of Metasin compared with GeneSearch were 95% (CI 83%–99%) and 97% (CI 91%–99%) respectively; compared with histology they were 95% (CI 83%–99%) and 97% (CI 91%–99%), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of GeneSearch compared with histology were 90% (CI 77%–96%) and 97% (CI 93%–99%) respectively. The positive predictive value of Metasin was 90% and negative predictive value was 98% for both histology and GeneSearch. The positive predictive value of GeneSearch was 92% and the negative predictive value was 97% compared to histology. The discordance rates of Metasin with both GeneSearch and histology were 3.89%. In comparison, the discordance rate of GeneSearch with histology was 4.5%. Metasin’s robustness was independently evaluated on 193 samples previously analysed by GeneSearch from the Jules Bordet Institute, where Metasin yielded comparable results. Full article