title: Increased plasma TGF-beta1 in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the levels of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) in plasma of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The TGF-beta1 plasma concentrations were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay from 11 patients with ALS and 13 age matched healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean TGF-beta1 plasma concentration in the patients with ALS (2.15 +/- 0.80 ng/ml, mean +/- SD) was significantly higher than in the healthy controls (1.59 +/- 0.32 ng/ml) (P=0.031). There was a significant positive correlation between the TGF-beta1 plasma concentration in the patients with ALS and the duration of illness (r=0.66, P=0.028).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide evidence that in ALS the plasma concentration of TGF-beta1 increases significantly with the duration of illness. These results suggest that TGF-beta1 is involved in the disease process of ALS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. houi@jikei.ac.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mochio
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
chemical_list: C508960:TGFB1 protein, human; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1