title: Removal of elevated circulating angiopoietin-2 by plasma exchange--a pilot study in critically ill patients with thrombotic microangiopathy and anti-glomerular basement membrane disease.
abstract: In critically ill patients, the massive release of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) from Weibel-Palade bodies interferes with protective angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1)/Tie2 signalling in endothelial cells, thus leading to vascular inflammation and subsequent organ-dysfunction. We hypothesised that plasma exchange (PE) is efficient for lowering excess Ang-2 levels in critically ill patients with thrombocytic microangiopathy (TMA) or anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease. Plasma Ang-1 and Ang-2 were measured by immuno-luminometric assays in patients with TMA (n=9) or anti-GBM disease (n=4) before and after up to four PE sessions. Twenty apparently healthy volunteers served as controls. Median (IQR) plasma levels of Ang-2 were markedly increased in patients with TMA (7.3 (2.4-21.1) ng/ml) and anti-GBM disease (5.8 (3.4-7.0) ng/ml) compared to healthy controls (1.0 (0.9-1.4) ng/ml, p <0.001). Moreover, Ang-1 plasma levels were decreased in both, TMA (1.02 (0.62-1.62) ng/ml) and anti-GBM disease patients (0.74 (0.59-3.62) ng/ml) compared to healthy controls (2.5 (1.93-3.47) ng/ml, p <0.005). During a total of 32 treatments, PE effectively lowered elevated mean (SD) Ang-2 plasma levels by 36.7 ± 19.6% per treatment (p <0.0001), whereas low Ang-1 plasma levels remained unchanged (0.3 ± 58.5%; p=0.147). Ang-2 levels declined to almost normal values during ≤4 PE treatments (Friedman´s test p<0.0001). PE is an effective method to remove excess circulating Ang-2. It remains to be elucidated if the removal of Ang-2 is crucial to ameliorate endothelial damage in critically ill patients with severely altered endothelial integrity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology & Hypertension, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Svjetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lovric
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lukasz
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hafer
authors.forename: Jan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Kielstein
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haubitz
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haller
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kümpers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D042683:Angiopoietin-1 / Q000097:blood; D042702:Angiopoietin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D019867:Anti-Glomerular Basement Membrane Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D016638:Critical Illness; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D010951:Plasma Exchange; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057049:Thrombotic Microangiopathies / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: C467630:ANGPT1 protein, human; D042683:Angiopoietin-1; D042702:Angiopoietin-2