Pulito-Cueto Verónica, Remuzgo-Martínez Sara, Genre Fernanda, Mora-Cuesta Víctor M, Iturbe-Fernández David, Fernández-Rozas Sonia, Atienza-Mateo Belén, Lera-Gómez Leticia, Alonso-Lecue Pilar, Rodríguez-Carrio Javier, Prieto-Peña Diana, Portilla Virginia, Blanco Ricardo, Corrales Alfonso, Gualillo Oreste, Cifrián José M, López-Mejías Raquel, González-Gay Miguel A
Research Group on Genetic Epidemiology and Atherosclerosis in Systemic Diseases and in Metabolic Bone Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System, IDIVAL, Santander, 39011 Cantabria, Spain.
Department of Pneumology, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, 39008 Cantabria, Spain.
J Clin Med. 2020 Dec 18;9(12):4098. doi: 10.3390/jcm9124098.
Interstitial lung disease (ILD) increases morbidity and mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although the pathogenesis of ILD associated with RA (RA-ILD) remains poorly defined, vascular tissue is crucial in lung physiology. In this context, endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are involved in endothelial tissue repair. However, little is known about their implication in RA-ILD. Accordingly, we aimed to investigate the potential role of EPC related to endothelial damage in RA-ILD. EPC quantification in peripheral blood from 80 individuals (20 RA-ILD patients, 25 RA-ILD patients, 21 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients, and 14 healthy controls) was performed by flow cytometry. EPC were considered as CD34, CD45, CD309 and CD133. A significant increase in EPC frequency in RA-ILD patients, as well as in RA-ILD and IPF patients, was found when compared with controls ( < 0.001, = 0.02 and < 0.001, respectively). RA-ILD patients exhibited a higher EPC frequency than the RA-ILD ones ( = 0.003), but lower than IPF patients ( < 0.001). Our results suggest that EPC increase may represent a reparative compensatory mechanism in patients with RA-ILD. The degree of EPC frequency may help to identify the presence of ILD in RA patients and to discriminate RA-ILD from IPF.
间质性肺病（ILD）会增加类风湿关节炎（RA）患者的发病率和死亡率。尽管与RA相关的ILD（RA-ILD）的发病机制仍不清楚，但血管组织在肺生理中至关重要。在这种情况下，内皮祖细胞（EPC）参与内皮组织修复。然而，关于它们在RA-ILD中的作用知之甚少。因此，我们旨在研究EPC在RA-ILD中与内皮损伤相关的潜在作用。通过流式细胞术对80名个体（20名RA-ILD患者、25名RA-ILD患者、21名特发性肺纤维化（IPF）患者和14名健康对照）外周血中的EPC进行定量。EPC被定义为CD34、CD45、CD309和CD133。与对照组相比，RA-ILD患者以及RA-ILD和IPF患者的EPC频率显著增加（分别为<0.001、=0.02和<0.001）。RA-ILD患者的EPC频率高于RA-ILD患者（=0.003），但低于IPF患者（<0.001）。我们的结果表明，EPC增加可能代表RA-ILD患者的一种修复性代偿机制。EPC频率的程度可能有助于识别RA患者中ILD的存在，并区分RA-ILD和IPF。
