Bergamini Alberto, Bolacchi Francesca, Pesce Caterina Delfina, Veneziano Giada, Uccioli Luigi, Girardi Valentina, De Corato Laura, Mondillo Maria Teresa, Squillaci Ettore
Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Unit, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy Department of Public Health and Cellular Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
Department of Diagnostic and Molecular Imaging, Radiation Therapy and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Int J Med Sci. 2016 Oct 20;13(11):875-880. doi: 10.7150/ijms.14579. eCollection 2016.
The receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB (RANK), ligand (RANK-L) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) are implicated in the pathogenesis of acute Charcot neuroarthropathy (CN). This study aimed to investigate the expression of RANK-L and OPG in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with acute CN. We found that the expression of RANK-L was lower in patients with acute CN as compared with diabetic control subjects and healthy control participants; whereas OPG expression was not detected in patients and in both control groups. RANK-L expression at the onset of disease was inversely correlated with the index of polyunsaturation (PUI), a bone marrow MRS-derived measurable index that allows evaluation of disease activity in acute CN, and recovery time. Finally, the expression of RANK-L increased at the time of healing compared with the values found during the acute phase. In conclusion, our preliminary data provide a first step in applying analysis of RANK-L expression in peripheral blood cells to the diagnosis of acute CN. Based on our data we also suggest that analysis of RANK-L expression could be a complementary tool that can be employed to obtain quantitative parameters that may help clinicians to monitor disease activity in patients with acute CN.
核因子-κB受体激活剂（RANK）、配体（RANK-L）和骨保护素（OPG）与急性夏科氏神经关节病（CN）的发病机制有关。本研究旨在调查急性CN患者外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中RANK-L和OPG的表达情况。我们发现，与糖尿病对照组和健康对照参与者相比，急性CN患者中RANK-L的表达较低；而在患者及两个对照组中均未检测到OPG表达。疾病发作时RANK-L的表达与多不饱和指数（PUI）呈负相关，PUI是一种源自骨髓磁共振波谱的可测量指数，可用于评估急性CN的疾病活动度及恢复时间。最后，与急性期相比，愈合时RANK-L的表达增加。总之，我们的初步数据为将外周血细胞中RANK-L表达分析应用于急性CN的诊断迈出了第一步。基于我们的数据，我们还建议RANK-L表达分析可能是一种辅助工具，可用于获取定量参数，帮助临床医生监测急性CN患者的疾病活动度。
