We describe the simultaneous quantification of six antiviral drugs in serum based on high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The target drugs-hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, favipiravir, umifenovir, ritonavir, and lopinavir-were extracted and purified from serum with 75 % v/v methanol as the precipitant reagent. The six analytes were clearly separated within 15 min using gradient elution and mixed-mode stationary phase. The measurement accuracy and precision were assured by adopting isotopes as internal standards. The optimized measurement procedure was strictly validated in linearity, sensitivity, accuracy, and precision. To confirm the robustness of the method in matrix, the method was additionally applied to various types of serum, namely hyperlipidemic and hyperglycemic serum. The method was then applied to assess the stability of the drugs in serum in order to set sample handling and storage guides for laboratory testing. Lastly, the method was implemented in different LC-MS systems to confirm its applicability across similar equipment commonly used in clinical testing laboratories. The overall results show that the optimized protocol is suitable for the accurate, simultaneous quantification of the six antiviral drugs in serum, and it is anticipated to satisfactorily serve as a reference protocol for the analysis of a wide range of other antiviral drugs for drug monitoring with various purposes.
In 2021, the Asia-Oceania Human Proteome Organization (AOHUPO) initiated a new endeavor named the AOHUPO Online Education Series with the aim to promote scientific education and collaboration, exchange of ideas and culture among the young scientists in the AO region. Following the warm participation, the AOHUPO organized the second series in 2022, with the theme "The Renaissance of Clinical Proteomics: Biomarkers, Imaging and Therapeutics". This time, the second AOHUPO Online Education Series was hosted by the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) affiliated to the National University of Malaysia (UKM) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on three consecutive Fridays (11th, 18th and 25th of March). More than 300 participants coming from 29 countries/regions registered for this 3-days event. This event provided an amalgamation of six prominent speakers and all participants whose interests lay mainly in applying MS-based and non-MS-based proteomics for clinical investigation.
The Asia-Oceania Human Proteome Organization (AOHUPO; www.aohupo.org) was officially founded on June 7, 2001, by Richard J. Simpson (Australia), Akira Tsugita (Japan), and Young-Ki Paik (Korea) and launched on October 1-4, 2001, at the second scientific meeting of the International Proteomics Conference held in Canberra, Australia. Inaugural council members of the AOHUPO elected were Richard J. Simpson (Australia, president), Qi-Chang Xia (China), Kazuyuki Nakamura (Japan), Akira Tsugita (Japan, VIce President), Young-Ki Paik (Korea, secretary general), Mike Hubbard (New Zealand), Max C. M. Chung (Singapore), Shui-Tien Chen (Taiwan), and John Bennett (Philippines). The first AOHUPO conference was held on March 26-27, 2002, at the Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, conjointly with the second Annual Meeting of KHUPO. Since then, biennial AOHUPO conferences have been held in Taipei (2004), Singapore (2006), Cairns (2008), Hyderabad (2010), Beijing (2012), Bangkok (2014), Sun Moon Lake (2016), and Osaka (2018). The 10th AOHUPO conference is scheduled to be held in Busan on June 30 to July 2, 2021, to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
As the first in-person Asia Oceania Human Proteomics Organization (AOHUPO) congress since 2018, the 11th AOHUPO congress was an opportune time for the research community to reconnect and to renew friendships after the long period of restricted travel due to the global pandemic. Moreover, this congress was a great opportunity for the many AO regional proteomics and mass spectrometry scientists to meet in Singapore to exchange ideas and to present their latest findings. Cohosted by the Singapore Society for Mass Spectrometry and the Malaysian Proteomics Society and held in conjunction with the seventh Asia Oceania Agricultural Proteomics Organization Congress and Singapore Society for Mass Spectrometry 2023, the meeting featured both human and agricultural proteomics. Over five hundred scientists from the AO region converged on the MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO, Changi, Singapore from May 8 to 10 for the main congress. The diverse program was made up of 64 invited speakers and panellists for seven plenary lectures, 27 concurrent symposia, precongress and postcongress workshops, and 174 poster presentations. The AOHUPO society were able to celebrate not only their 20th anniversary but also the outstanding academic research from biological and agricultural proteomics and related 'omics fields being conducted across the Asia-Oceania region.
In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.