Endothelin-1 expression in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage from patients with active Behçet's disease.

In view of the pulmonary manifestations in Behçet's disease (BD), we investigated the production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) by the respiratory tract in active BD. A group of 10 patients with active BD with pulmonary manifestations and 10 control subjects were studied. Immunoreactive ET-1 was measured in BAL and in serum by RIA. All the BD patients exhibited higher BAL ET-1 levels than controls. ET-1 expression may contribute to the functional and morphological abnormalities of the vasculature associate with BD.