Osteoprotegerin/sRANKL Signaling System in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis: A Bronchoalveolar Lavage Study.
Osteoprotegerin (OPG), a soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor family molecule, protects endothelial cells from apoptosis in vitro and promotes neovascularization in vivo. Angiogenesis may be crucial for the course and outcome of sarcoidosis. In this study, we evaluated the clinical usefulness of OPG and its ligand, a soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB (sRANKL), in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in patients with sarcoidosis (BBS, Besniera-Boeck-Schaumann disease). We studied 22 BBS patients and 15 healthy volunteers as a control group. The levels of OPG, sRANKL, and interleukin-18 (IL-18) were measured by the Elisa method. The BALF levels of sRANKL and IL-18 were higher in the BBS patients compared with controls [sRANKL: 2.12 (0.82-10.23) vs. 1.12 (0.79-4.39) pmol/l, p = 0.03; IL-18: 34.29 (12.50-133.70) vs. 13.05 (12.43-25.88) pg/ml, p = 0.001]. There were no significant differences between the concentration of OPG in the BBS patients and healthy controls [0.22 (0.14-0.81) vs. 0.23 (0.14-0.75) pmol/l]. In the BBS patients we found correlations between sRANKL and IL-18 in BALF (r = 0.742, p = 0.0001) and between OPG and lung diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) (r = -0.528, p = 0.029). Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to find the cut-off for the BALF level of sRANKL (BBS vs. healthy: 1.32 pmol/l). We conclude that OPG and sRANKL may have usefulness in clinical evaluation of BBS patients.
First Department of Lung Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, 14 Zurawia St, 15-540, Bialystok, Poland. wojciechnaumnik@gmail.com.|Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland. wojciechnaumnik@gmail.com.
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Naumnik
First Department of Nephrology and Transplantation with Dialysis Unit, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland.
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Naumnik
Department of Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland.
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Niklińska
First Department of Lung Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, 14 Zurawia St, 15-540, Bialystok, Poland.
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Ossolińska
First Department of Lung Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, 14 Zurawia St, 15-540, Bialystok, Poland.
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Chyczewska
D018893:Bronchoalveolar Lavage / Q000379:methods; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053244:Osteoprotegerin / Q000378:metabolism*; D053245:RANK Ligand / Q000378:metabolism*; D012372:ROC Curve; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D020382:Interleukin-18; D053244:Osteoprotegerin; D053245:RANK Ligand; C505688:TNFSF11 protein, human
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid; Lungs; Osteoprotegerin; Sarcoidosis; Soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand