title: High serum concentrations of autoantibodies to HSP47 in nonspecific interstitial pneumonia compared with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The pathological diagnosis of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIP) by surgical lung biopsy is important for clinical decision-making. However, there is a need to use less invasive biomarkers to differentiate nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) from other IIP such as usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). Heat shock protein (HSP) 47, a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, is involved in the processing and/or secretion of procollagen. HSP47 is increased in various fibrotic diseases. We investigated the autoantibodies to HSP47 in IIPs.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured the serum levels of the autoantibodies to HSP47 in 38 patients with various forms of IIP [16 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), 15 with idiopathic NSIP, 7 with cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP)] and 18 healthy volunteers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum levels of autoantibodies to HSP47 in patients with idiopathic NSIP were significantly higher than in patients with IPF (P < 0.01), COP (P < 0.05), and healthy volunteers (P < 0.05). In addition, those in fibrosing NSIP were significantly higher than those of cellular and fibrosing NSIP (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found high levels of anti-HSP47 autoantibody titers in sera of patients with idiopathic fibrosing NSIP compared with other IIPs and healthy volunteers.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. tomoyukikakugawa@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kakugawa
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokota
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mukae
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Noriho
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Syunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizunoe
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.forename: Jun-ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kadota
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D050958:HSP47 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D054990:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D050958:HSP47 Heat-Shock Proteins