Department of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
Biosci Trends. 2012 Oct;6(5):229-33. doi: 10.5582/bst.2012.v6.5.229.
Vascular abnormalities are one of the common features in rheumatic diseases, but their pathogenesis is still not known. Angiogenin, a molecule implicated in the angiogenic process, may play some roles in such vascular changes. Serum angiogenin concentrations were measured in 21 scleroderma patients, 10 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 21 patients with dermatomyositis (DM), 5 patients with polymyositis (PM), 11 patients with clinically amyopathic DM (CADM) and 12 normal subjects, with specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Angiogenin mRNA in vivo was determined in skin tissues of 5 DM patients, 4 CADM patients, 5 SLE patients and 7 normal subjects using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions. We could not find any significant differences in the serum angiogenin levels among normal subjects and patients with rheumatic diseases. However, when we evaluated the correlation of serum angiogenin levels with clinical features of 32 DM/CADM patients, the patients with increased angiogenin levels had significantly higher aldolase levels than those with decreased levels. On the other hand, angiogenin mRNA is significantly up-regulated in the involved skin of DM and CADM, suggesting that angiogenin expression is up-regulated locally in the skin but not in sera of patients with DM and CADM. In conclusion, dysregulated angiogenin expression may contribute to the pathogenesis of myositis as well as skin involvement via the vascular change in DM/CADM. Further studies with an increased number of patients may help to clarify the relationship between angiogenin and vascular abnormalities in rheumatic diseases and to develop new therapeutic strategies.
血管异常是风湿性疾病的常见特征之一，但其发病机制尚不清楚。参与血管生成过程的分子血管生成素可能在这种血管变化中起一些作用。采用特定的酶联免疫吸附试验检测了 21 例硬皮病患者、10 例系统性红斑狼疮 (SLE)患者、21 例皮肌炎 (DM)患者、5 例多发性肌炎 (PM)患者、11 例临床无肌病性皮肌炎 (CADM)患者和 12 例正常对照者的血清血管生成素浓度。采用实时定量聚合酶链反应检测了 5 例 DM 患者、4 例 CADM 患者、5 例 SLE 患者和 7 例正常对照者皮肤组织中的血管生成素 mRNA。我们未发现正常人和风湿性疾病患者血清血管生成素水平有任何显著差异。然而，当我们评估 32 例 DM/CADM 患者的血清血管生成素水平与临床特征的相关性时，血管生成素水平升高的患者醛缩酶水平明显高于水平降低的患者。另一方面，DM 和 CADM 受累皮肤中的血管生成素 mRNA 明显上调，提示血管生成素表达在 DM 和 CADM 患者的皮肤中局部上调，而不是在血清中上调。总之，血管生成素表达失调可能通过 DM/CADM 的血管变化导致肌炎和皮肤受累的发病机制。进一步增加患者数量的研究可能有助于阐明血管生成素与风湿性疾病血管异常之间的关系，并制定新的治疗策略。
