title: Elevated levels of type II soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of patients with sarcoidosis.
abstract: Since tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is known to be involved in granuloma formation in sarcoidosis, and soluble TNF receptors (sTNF-Rs) inhibit TNF action in vivo, we evaluated the levels of sTNF-Rs in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) of 31 subjects using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Our group consisted of 13 patients with sarcoidosis (7 sarcoidosis patients who received no treatment and 6 who received corticosteroid therapy) and 18 control subjects (11 healthy nonsmokers and 7 asymptomatic smokers). Type II (75-kDa), but not type I (55 kDa) sTNF-R in BALF was elevated significantly in patients with sarcoidosis compared with the healthy nonsmokers (type I: 126.7 +/- 17.6 pg/ml BALF vs 79.4 +/- 16.5 pg/ml BALF, p > 0.05; type II: 98.3 +/- 27.8 pg/ml BALF vs 26.7 +/- 4.9 pg/ml BALF, p < 0.05). Although levels of type I sTNF-R in BALF from sarcoidosis patients were not correlated with any cellular profiles of BALF, concentrations of type II correlated significantly with the numbers of lymphocytes in BALF. We concluded that sTNF-R is a normal constituent of the epithelial lining fluids and that levels of type II sTNF-R are elevated significantly in the BALF from individuals with sarcoidosis. This suggests that sTNF-Rs may influence the local bioactivity of TNF and may also contribute to the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hino
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tomoike
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D047889:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type II; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D047889:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type II