Authors: Suleyman Serdar Koca Fatma Akbas Metin Ozgen Servet Yolbas Nevin Ilhan Baris Gundogdu Ahmet Isik
Publish Date: 2013/08/03
Volume: 33, Issue: 2, Pages: 215-220
Abstract
Systemic sclerosis SSc is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology characterized by progressive fibrosis Activated fibroblasts are mainly responsible for fibrosis in SSc Galectin3 a βgalactosidebinding lectin plays many important regulatory roles in both physiological and pathological processes including proliferation apoptosis inflammation and fibrosis The purpose of this study was to assess the serum galectin3 levels in patients with SSc Thirtyseven SSc patients 23 systemic lupus erythematosus SLE patients serving as patient control group and 28 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study Disease activity and severity scores were detected with Valentini disease activity index and Medsger disease severity scale in the SSc group and SLE disease activity index and Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology damage index in the SLE group The serum levels of galectin3 vascular endothelial growth factor transforming growth factorβ and interleukin6 were determined Compared to the control group the galectin3 levels were higher in the SSc and SLE groups The galectin3 levels were not correlated with the disease activity and severity indexes in both patient groups But the serum galectin3 levels were higher in the active SSc and SLE subgroups than in the inactive SSc 46 ± 58 vs 13 ± 11 ng/ml p = 0015 and SLE 174 ± 113 vs 65 ± 89 ng/ml p = 0019 subgroups These results suggest that galectin3 which is associated with fibrosis and inflammation by previous studies may be a prominent biomarker of disease activity in SSc
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