R. Kaarteenahowiik et al., TENASCIN IMMUNOREACTIVITY AS A PROGNOSTIC MARKER IN USUAL INTERSTITIAL PNEUMONIA, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 154(2), 1996, pp. 511-518
Citations number
35
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
In this investigation, tenascin (Tn) expression was studied in 51 case
s of different types of fibrotic lung disorders originating for years
1981 to 1995. Our aim was to test if accumulation of Tn at the site of
lung injury in usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) could correlate wit
h the prognosis. Lung biopsies taken from 28 patients with UIP, six wi
th desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP), six with sarcoidosis, fi
ve with extrinsic allergic bronchioloalveolitis, five with bronchiolit
is obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), and one with nonspecific in
terstitial pneumonia were studied for the expression of Tn by using an
immunohistochemical technique. In addition to Tn immunohistochemistry
, selected cases were also studied by immunoelectron microscopy and We
stern blotting. For prognostic studies in UIP the clinical follow-up i
nformation was obtained from the patient records. The expression of Tn
was increased in each type of fibrosis, especially in UIP. In immunoe
lectron microscopy the most prominent labeling in UIP was found in ass
ociation with collagen fibers and within the type 2 pneumocytes. Every
studied case of UIP showed reactivity for a polypeptide of M(r) appro
ximate to 200,000 by Western blotting. In patients with UIP, increased
Tn expression, especially under metaplastic bronchiolar-type epitheli
um, was associated with a shortened survival time. Immunoelectron micr
oscopic findings support the idea that Tn in UIP is synthesized by the
regenerating epithelial rather than interstitial cells in response to
pulmonary interstitial inflammation.