The introduction of Preventive Medicine Center
Kao-Ho Hospital's Preventive Medicine Center is located on the second floor of main building providing a variety of high-end comprehensive health examination packages. It boasts sophisticated medical instruments that are exclusive to VIP examinees, multiple and accurately advanced inspection items, as well as an elegant and comfortable, relaxed, and stress-free examination space.
The specialist of Kao-Ho hospital is involved in the consultation, examination, and diagnostic interpretation. According to personal health needs, arranges follow-up medical services and regularly reminds reexaminations. The packages consist of an innovative array of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic outpatient services designed for clients who wish to take a proactive approach to their long-term wellness and get the most out of daily living.
"Early detection and early treatment." The Preventive Medicine Center has a complete checkup package that covers all the major systematic diseases and other uncommon illnesses, such as immunology and advanced cancer survey. Kao-Ho hospital is proud to have exclusive examination items including of RBC-Mg evaluation, circulating tumor cell, lymphocyte subsets analysis, natural killer cytotoxicity assessment, plasma cell free DNA, cancer mutation analysis (NGS) etc.
Kao-Ho Hospital's Preventive Medicine Center is an accredited medical institution for internationalized medical care services, offering the highest quality service and outstanding medical care. Achieving to save people technologically as well as innovative services purposely.
The introduction of exclusive examination items
Magnesium (Mg) is the second most abundant intracelluar cation after potassium. Not only being a cofactor for more than 600 enzymes in the body, it also can stabilize the intracellular nucleic acid structure, and maintain the proper progression of transcription and translation. However, many factors, such as the loss of soil minerals and excessive refined diet intakes may put us under the magnesium deficiency risk. According to current research, low levels of magnesium may cause cramps and migraines, and may also affect cognitive status. Often, hypomagnesium is positively correlated with some chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
As mentioned above, it is important to be able to monitor the magnesium level so that we can replenish it just in time when we are under hypomagnisum status. Studies show that intracellular magnesium level is the more reliable index than plasma magnesium level, because it comparably reflects the real-time physiological state. Therefore, our laboratory detect the free Mg2+ in the erythrocyte by using free Mg2+ specific fluorescence dye. Next, the cells’ fluorescence signal is measured by flow cytometry and it is further converted into fluorescent unit(FU). Persons with the FU lower than a normal range, which was decided according to our statistic result and clinical data, usually come along with hypomagnesium related syndromes. This report may provide you information to discuss with doctors to get suggestion for better magnesium balance.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or cancer stem cells (CSCs) circulating in blood is a risk factor of metastasis and recurrence for cancer patients. Although the probability of distant metastases is not high when there are only a few cancer cells in the circulation system, there is a higher chance to form distant metastases after the continual accumulation of CTCs or CSCs in blood. However, there is a chance to suppress cancer metastasis when the number of CTCs can be brought under control. Therefore, the detection of CTC for cancer patient is important for treatment strategy. Due to the high heterogeneity of cancers, their corresponding surface antigens can be used as identification marker, including CD44, CD90, CD133 and CD326. Wherein CD326 (Epithelial cell adhesion molecule, EpCAM) has been widely used in cancer detection in peripheral blood, and with various other antigens to study different cancers. CD44, CD90, CD133 is considered a marker for cancer stem cells compared to normal cancer cells, that have a greater potential of metastasis and resistance to therapy 1,2.
In order to monitor the number of CTCs and CSCs with different therapies, the flow cytometry is applied to analyze blood cell types and cancer cell markers mentioned above. More and more researches indicate that cancer cell numbers in blood flow may serve as a reference for diagnosis, but it still need more researches and large-scale clinical trials to further corroboration 3. These cells are rarely detected in the healthy, and released into the bloodstream only when the body gives the warning signs of diseases, such as inflammation, tissue repair, etc. 4, 5 To CD90, for example, the high CD90 expression could be observed in patients with liver fibrosis.
Lymphocyte is the major population of the immune system, about a quarter of the white blood cells. Lymphocytes can be divided into T cells, B cells and NK cells according to their function. Different types of lymphocytes are difficult to distinguish morphologically and can only be distinguished by their surface markers and activities. The roles of different lymphocytes subsets are diverse, so knowing the distribution of lymphocyte help us to predict the response of our body against diseases.
T cells are matured in thymus, so called thymus-dependent lymphocytes (T cells) and are the major lymphocytes and in blood. All the T cells express CD3 surface marker, and sub-populations of T cells play an important regulatory role in the stability of the immune function. The T cell subsets include CD4+ and CD8+ T cells which are helper T cells and suppressor T cells (CTL). Under normal circumstances, CD4+ and CD8+ always maintain a constant ratio and the balance of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells could defense the infection and regulate autoimmune diseases, also inhibit the tumor growth.
B cells are matured in the bird’s bursa or other organ with the same function (bone marrow in human), so called bursa or bone marrow-dependent lymphocyte (B lymphocytes/B cells). B cells were stimulated to secrete large amounts of antibodies against a wide range of foreign and internal antigens.
Natural killer cells (NK) cells have non-specific cytotoxicity to virus-infected cells and tumor cells and is different to CD8+ T cells which are restricted by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I. They were named “natural killers” because of the initial notion that they do not require activation to kill cells that are missing “self” markers of MHC class I.
In recent years, in addition to the known outside of lymphocytes, the scientists also found a intermediate between NK and T cells, the NKT cells. NKT cells express both T cell receptors and NK cell receptor. NKT cells not only secrete cytokines in regulating immune response, and also have the same target cells killing capacity. Recent research indicates that the use of special immune stimulating factor can increase the number of this group to kill tumor cells, also known as CIK (cytokine induced killer).
Cell free DNA (cfDNA) is the double strand DNA molecule which disperses in the blood stream. Under the normal physiological condition, this molecule is usually released from the aging cell through the metabolic process. Because the source of the DNA dose not directly come from the lysed blood cells, and so called “cell free”.
Usually, the concentration of cfDNA keeps comparatively low in the healthy condition. However, it may raise in short or long under certain abnormal conditions, eg. autoimmune, trauma, pregnancy, and so on. The existence of the cancer cells also a major cause to increase the concentration.
We provide the evaluation criterion by setting the cut-off point based on the expression of cfDNA among healthy individuals and cancer patients. Therefore, your health condition can be measured in certain extent through monitoring the concentration-dynamic of the cfDNA.
Natural killer (NK) cells are a subset of the cytotoxic lymphocyte population of the innate immune system and participate as a first line of defense by clearing pathogen-infected, malignant, and stressed cells. The ability of NK cells to eradicate cancer cells makes them an important tool in the fight against cancer. Several new immune-based therapies are under investigation for cancer treatment which rely either on enhancing NK cell activity or increasing the sensitivity of cancer cells to NK cell-mediated eradication.
A better understanding of molecular events underlying cancer progression drives advancements in oncology. Relevant biomarker detection is necessary to determine the optimal strategies in cancer prevention and care. However, identifying the right tools to make biomarker profiling effortless is challenging. Our comprehensive portfolio makes it easy for you to access valuable insights. From sample collection to data interpretation – we provide the most robust technologies and resources to help you detect, analyze and validate relevant biomarkers. We continuously strive to innovate and expand the range of solutions we offer, further paving the path to precision medicine.
In the clinical context, the human gut microbiome has been the subject of intense investigation, which has revealed a sophisticated interplay between the microbiome and the host immune system and metabolism. The gut microbiota is associated with the health and longevity of the host. Through the aging process, age-related changes in the composition of gut microbiota have been observed which are related to increased intestinal disorders, inflammation, cognitive decline, and increased frailty. Gut microbiota studies are commonly performed by analyzing the prokaryotic 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rRNA), which is approximately 1,500 bp long and contains nine variable regions interspersed between conserved regions. Variable regions of 16S rRNA are frequently used in phylogenetic classifications such as genus or species in diverse microbial populations.
