Open AccessElevation of plasma‐soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors (TNF‐R) in sarcoidosis
Author(s) -
NAKAYAMA T.,
HASHIMOTO S.,
AMEMIYA E.,
HORIE T.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2249.1996.13702.x
Subject(s) - sarcoidosis , tumor necrosis factor alpha , receptor , immunology , medicine , endocrinology
Two types of receptor for tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐R), the 55‐kD receptor (TNF‐RI) and the 75‐kD receptor (TNF‐RII), have been identified. Soluble TNF‐RI (sTNF‐RI) and soluble TNF‐RII (sTNF‐RII) can be measured in culture supernatants and biological fluids, and the role of sTNF‐R has been suggested. In the present study, we measured plasma sTNF‐RI and sTNF‐RII levels in 19 patients with active sarcoidosis by ELISA in order to assess the state of both types of receptors in this disease. Both plasma sTNF‐RI and sTNF‐RII levels in patients with active sarcoidosis were significantly higher than those in normal control subjects. A longitudinal evaluation of plasma sTNF‐RI and sTNF‐RII levels showed that the magnitude of changes in sTNF‐RII was closely related with the clinical course of sarcoidosis. These results suggest that plasma sTNF‐RII levels may be useful parameters for monitoring the clinical course of sarcoidosis as well as markers for identifying disease activity.