Thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor in Behçet's disease.
BACKGROUND
Thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) is a procarboxypeptidase downregulating plasmin formation, thereby causing a tendency for thrombosis development. Since, Behçet's disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis, which is commonly complicated by arterial and venous thrombosis, we aimed to find out plasma TAFI levels in BD, compared with healthy controls. We also searched whether plasma TAFI levels were significantly different between Behçet's subgroups with and without thrombosis.


METHODS
In this study, 105 BD patients (M/F: 64/41; mean age 36+/-1 years), followed up by Ege University Rheumatology Department were enrolled. The exclusion criteria were hemophilia, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, hepatic diseases renal failure, antiphospholipid positivity, oral contraceptive use and pregnancy. Age-and sex-matched healthy controls (n=53) were also included. Plasma TAFI levels were measured by ELISA. Since TAFI is also an acute-phase reactant, we also measured other inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP).


RESULTS
Plasma TAFI levels were significantly higher in Behçet's patients (91.1+/-7.4 ng/ml) compared with healthy controls (14.3+/-4.5 ng/ml) (P<0.001), but there were no significant difference between the subgroups with and without thrombosis. In BD, there was no correlation between plasma TAFI levels and CRP.


CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of manifest thrombosis, plasma TAFI levels in BD were significantly higher than in healthy controls. High TAFI levels might possibly contribute to the thrombotic tendency in BD. Future studies investigating TAFI gene polymorphism and functional activity are clearly needed, to clarify the exact role of TAFI in Behçet's thrombosis.
Donmez
Ayhan
A
Ege University Medical School Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. adonmez@med.ege.edu.tr
Aksu
Kenan
K
Celik
Handan Ak
HA
Keser
Gokhan
G
Cagirgan
Seckin
S
Omay
Serdar Bedii
SB
Inal
Vedat
V
Aydin
Hikmet Hakan
HH
Tombuloglu
Murat
M
Doganavsargil
Eker
E
D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D025901:Carboxypeptidase B2 / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology
D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D025901:Carboxypeptidase B2