Corrigendum to "Analytical validation of protein biomarkers for risk of spontaneous preterm birth" [Clin. Mass Spectrom. 3 (2017) 25-38].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.clinms.

Use of a Comprehensive 66-Gene Cholestasis Sequencing Panel in 2171 Cholestatic Infants, Children, and Young Adults.

Objectives: Cholestasis is caused by a wide variety of etiologies, often genetic in origin. Broad overlap in clinical presentations, particularly in newborns, renders prioritizing diagnostic investigations challenging. In this setting, a timely, comprehensive assessment using a multigene panel by a clinical diagnostic laboratory would likely prove useful.

Current Mechanistic and Pharmacodynamic Understanding of Melanocortin-4 Receptor Activation.

In this work we summarize our understanding of melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) pathway activation, aiming to define a safe and effective therapeutic targeting strategy for the MC4R. Delineation of cellular MC4R pathways has provided evidence for distinct MC4R signaling events characterized by unique receptor activation kinetics. While these studies remain narrow in scope, and have largely been explored with peptidic agonists, the results provide a possible correlation between distinct ligand groups and differential MC4R activation kinetics.

Analytical validation of protein biomarkers for risk of spontaneous preterm birth.

Presented are the validation results of a second-generation assay for determining the relative abundances of two protein biomarkers found in maternal serum that predict an individual's risk of spontaneous preterm birth. The sample preparation workflow is complex, consisting of immuno-depletion of high-abundance serum proteins, tryptic digestion of the immuno-depleted fraction to generate surrogate peptide analytes, and detection by tandem mass spectrometry. The method was determined to be robust on observation of the following characteristics: classifier peptide detection precision was excellent; results were accurate when compared to a reference method; results were linear over a clinically relevant range; the limits of quantitation encompassed the range of expected results; and the method demonstrated analytical specificity and resilience to differences in patient serum and common endogenous interferents.

Development and validation of a spontaneous preterm delivery predictor in asymptomatic women.

Background: Preterm delivery remains the leading cause of perinatal mortality. Risk factors and biomarkers have traditionally failed to identify the majority of preterm deliveries.

Objective: To develop and validate a mass spectrometry-based serum test to predict spontaneous preterm delivery in asymptomatic pregnant women.