title: Fractalkine in obstructive sleep apnea patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep disorder affecting 2-4 % of the adult population. In addition to several potential mechanisms, inflammation is one of the suggested etiological factors in OSA. Fractalkine/CX3CL1 which is detected in activated or stressed endothelium, smooth muscle cells, skeletal muscle cells, macrophages, neurons, and hepatocytes is an inflammatory marker and attracts attention of sleep specialists in OSA pathogenesis. In this study, we had two goals. The first one was to investigate the role of fractalkine in OSA pathogenesis while the second one was to detect the impact of OSA treatment with positive airway pressure (PAP) on serum fractalkine levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 34 patients (6 females, 28 males) diagnosed as OSA and 20 healthy controls (4 females, 16 males). Initial serum fractalkine levels of both groups were first evaluated in order to demonstrate any potential relation of OSA with fractalkine. Subsequently, serum fractalkine levels of the OSA patients were evaluated following 1 week of PAP treatment to demonstrate the impact of PAP treatment on serum fractalkine levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although there was no significant difference between OSA patients and healthy controls by means of plasma fractalkine levels (p, 0.67) statistically, plasma fractalkine levels significantly decreased in OSA patients after 1 week of PAP treatment (p, 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that fractalkine, a potential mediator of chronic inflammation, was not sensitive in diagnosing OSA but might be an indicator of the success of OSA treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. gulguncet@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Gulgun Cetintas
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Afsar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oruc
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarac
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özgür Bilgin
authors.initials: ÖB
authors.lastname: Topçuoğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cuneyt
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salturk
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Allergy, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatma Merve
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Tepetam
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Allergy, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ismet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bulut
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054428:Chemokine CX3CL1 / Q000097:blood*; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: C515538:CX3CL1 protein, human; D054428:Chemokine CX3CL1
keywords: Fractalkine; Obstructive sleep apnea; Positive airway pressure; İnflammation