title: Soluble interleukin-2 receptor as an indicator of immunological disturbance found in silicosis patients.
abstract: Silicosis patients (SILs) possess not only respiratory disorders but also alterations in autoimmunity. To determine an early indicator of immunological disturbance in SILs, the role of serum-soluble interleukin (IL)-2 receptor (sIL-2R) was analyzed. Of ten SILs, immunological clinical parameters such as immunoglobulin (Ig) G, complements, the titer of autoantibodies including anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-Scl-70 antibody (Ab) and anti-centromere (CM) Ab, and experimental indicators such as serum-soluble Fas, serum IL-2, CD25+ cells in CD4+ or CD8+ fractions, and sIL-2R were divided from respiratory parameters such as percent vital capacity (%VC), percentage of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1.0%) and v25/Ht (liter/second/m(body height) by a correlation assay. Additionally, a stepwise regression test showed that sIL-2R was correlated with Ig G, ANA and anti-CM Ab. Furthermore, factor analysis revealed that sIL-2R contributed to the subpopulation of SILs with poorer immunological status in the absence of alterations in respiratory status. By defining healthy donors as 1, SILs as 2 and patients with systemic sclerosis as 3 for immunopathological progression status as metric variables, sIL2R and ANA showed a strong positive correlation. This suggests that sIL-2R is a good clinical indicator of immunological disturbance found in SILs without clinical manifestations of any disturbance in autoimmunity. Further analysis using a large-scale number of patients should be performed to confirm these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumagai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hatayama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katoh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyahara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kusaka
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otsuki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000276:immunology; D012829:Silicosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2