title: Plasma CCN2 (connective tissue growth factor; CTGF) is a potential biomarker in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive and fatal pulmonary fibrotic disease and useful biomarkers are required to diagnose and predict disease activity. CCN2 (connective tissue growth factor; CTGF) has been reported as one of the key profibrotic factors associated with transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and its assay has potential as a non-invasive measure in various fibrotic diseases. Recently, we developed a new subtraction method for determination of plasma CCN2 levels. We examined the utility of plasma CCN2 levels as a surrogate marker in IPF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma CCN2 levels were calculated in 33 patients with IPF, 14 patients with non-IPF idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) and 101 healthy volunteers by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using specific monoclonal antibodies for two distinct epitopes of human CCN2. We evaluated the utility of plasma CCN2 levels by comparison with clinical parameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma CCN2 levels were significantly higher in patients with IPF than in those with non-IPF IIPs and healthy volunteers. Importantly, plasma CCN2 levels showed significantly negative correlation with 6-month change of forced vital capacity (FVC) in patients with IPF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma CCN2 is a potential biomarker for IPF.
authors.affiliation: Second Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: Yutaro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaida
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inui
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Syunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurashita
authors.forename: Isamu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fukamachi
authors.forename: Koki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Poh-Sing
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takehara
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.forename: Kingo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chida
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C526317:CCN2 protein, human; D055513:Connective Tissue Growth Factor