Examination of soluble Fas (sFas) and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) in patients with burns.
The FasL-Fas system is one of the recognized apoptosis-inducing systems, and has been determined to have important functions in relation to homeostasis and biological defense mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the serum levels of soluble Fas (sFas), soluble FasL (sFasL) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in patients with burns. The sFas levels were found to be significantly higher in the patients who eventually died as compared to those in the patients who survived (3.9+/-1.8ng/ml versus 2.6+/-1.0ng/ml). On the other hand, the sFasL levels were significantly higher in the patients who survived (61.5+/-29.9ng/ml versus 37.2+/-14.4ng/ml) than in those who eventually died. A positive correlation was noted between the TNF-alpha level and the sFas level, and a negative correlation was observed between the TNF-alpha level and the sFasL level. These findings suggest that worsening of the condition of a burns patient may be related to changes in the Fas-FasL system.
Yamada
Yasuhiko
Y
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, 19-1 Uchimaru, 020-8505, Morioka, Japan.
Endo
Shigeatsu
S
Nakae
Hajime
H
Makabe
Hideyuki
H
Sato
Nobuhiro
N
Wakabayashi
Go
G
Kitamura
Michihiko
M
Inada
Katsuya
K
Sato
Shigehiro
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D002056:Burns / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality; D018450:Disease Progression; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000097:blood*
C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D019014:fas Receptor