Authors: Noha A Azab Hanaa M Rady Samar A Marzouk
Publish Date: 2012/06/23
Volume: 31, Issue: 9, Pages: 1359-1364
Abstract
Tumor necrosis factorrelated apoptosisinducing ligand TRAIL has been reported to be involved in the pathophysiology of some autoimmune diseases as systemic lupus erythematosus ankylosing spondylitis and multiple sclerosis The aim of this study was to assess serum TRAIL concentration in systemic sclerosis SSc patients and to investigate its possible association with various disease parameters Thirty SSc patients as well as 25 rheumatoid arthritis RA patients and 25 healthy volunteers were included in the present study Organ system involvement in SSc patients was investigated Pulmonary function tests as well as chest highresolution computed tomography HRCT were done to detect pulmonary involvement in our patients TRAIL concentrations were measured in the sera of SSc patients RA patients and healthy controls by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay Mean serum TRAIL levels were significantly higher in SSc patients than in the control RA patients and in healthy controls p 0001 while they were not significantly different between patients with diffuse cutaneous SSc and patients with limited cutaneous scleroderma Serum TRAIL levels were significantly higher in SSc patients with pulmonary involvement and were significantly correlated with HRCT scores Serum TRAIL levels are significantly elevated in SSc patients and are associated with SScassociated pulmonary involvement denoting a possible role of TRAIL in the pathogenesis of SSc Further studies may be needed to confirm these findings and the possible use of TRAIL in detection and possibly treatment of SScassociated pulmonary disease
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