title: Expression of HSP47 in usual interstitial pneumonia and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heat shock protein (HSP) 47, a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, is involved in the processing and/or secretion of procollagens, and its expression is increased in various fibrotic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether quantitative immunohistochemical evaluation of the expression levels of HSP47, type I procollagen and alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA) allows the differentiation of idiopathic usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) from UIP associated with collagen vascular disease (CVD) and idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP).
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed surgical lung biopsy specimens of 19 patients with idiopathic UIP, 7 with CVD-associated UIP and 16 with idiopathic NSIP and assigned a score for the expression of HSP47, type I procollagen and alpha-SMA in type II pneumocytes and/or lung fibroblasts (score 0 = no; 1 = weak; 2 = moderate; 3 = strong staining).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression level of HSP47 in type II pneumocytes of idiopathic UIP was significantly higher than in CVD-associated UIP and idiopathic NSIP. The expression of HSP47 in fibroblasts was significantly higher in idiopathic UIP and idiopathic NSIP than in CVD-associated UIP. The expression of type I procollagen in type II pneumocytes was significantly higher in idiopathic UIP than in idiopathic NSIP. The expression of type I procollagen in fibroblasts was not different in the three groups, while the expression of alpha-SMA in fibroblasts was significantly higher in idiopathic UIP than in idiopathic NSIP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest the existence of different fibrotic pathways among these groups involved in the expression of HSP47 and type I procollagen.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. kakugawa@jasmine.ocn.ne.jp
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakugawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mukae
authors.forename: Tomayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Seiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Noriho
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Sumako
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mine
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizuta
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D050958:HSP47 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D050958:HSP47 Heat-Shock Proteins