Chemokine signals are crucial for enhanced homing and differentiation of circulating osteoclast progenitor cells

Elevated serum CCL4/MIP-1β levels in postmenopausal osteoporosis patients are linked with disease severity

AIM

To investigate if the serum CC motif ligand 4 (CCL4) levels are linked to disease severity in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP).

PATIENTS & METHODS

We enrolled 66 PMOP females, 68 postmenopausal nonosteoporotic women and 67 healthy women of childbearing age. Bone mineral densities were assessed with dual x-ray absorptiometry scans. The Oswestry disability index and the visual analog scale were employed to quantify functional ability and severity of symptoms. Serum CCL4 levels were examined with a quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

We observed a significant negative correlation of CCL4 serum levels with bone mineral density. Furthermore, serum CCL4 concentrations were significantly related to the visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index scores.

CONCLUSION

Serum CCL4 is a potential biomarker to evaluate disease severity in PMOP females.

Evaluation of chemokine CXCL10 in human gingival crevicular fluid, saliva, and serum as periodontitis biomarker

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate CXCL10 as a biomarker for periodontitis by determining the CXCL10 levels in saliva, serum, and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples from periodontally healthy control subjects and adult subjects with chronic periodontitis.

Patients and methods

Adult patients seeking dental treatment at Umm Al-Qura University dental clinic underwent a complete periodontal examination, and saliva, serum, and GCF samples were collected. Subjects were classified as chronic periodontitis patients (n=31) if they have a periodontal probing depth (PD) of ≥4 mm and/or clinical attachment level (CAL) of ≥3 mm in >30% of the teeth. The control group (n=25) had PD ≤3 mm and/or CAL ≤2 mm. ELISA was performed to determine the concentration of CXCL10 in saliva, serum, and GCF samples. Student’s t-test was carried out to evaluate the significant difference between different groups. Spearman’s correlation test was used to analyze the relationship between the levels of CXCL10 and the clinical periodontal parameters. P-value of ≤0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Significantly higher concentrations of CXCL10 were found in saliva and serum in chronic periodontitis patients as compared with the controls (272±60.4 pg/mL and 72±13.4 pg/mL vs 130±22.2 pg/mL and 44.08±4.5 pg/mL, P≤0.05). The CXCL10 levels in GCF were higher in the periodontitis group as compared with the control group (66.36±32.0 pg/mL and 44.56±17.5 pg/mL, respectively); the difference did not reach statistical significance (P≥0.05). Moreover, serum CXCL10 level was significantly higher in periodontitis patients with moderate to severe bone loss as compared with those with mild bone loss (71.05±4.7 pg/mL vs 54.8±7.7 pg/mL, P≤0.05). The serum CXCL10 levels were found to be related to CAL measurements (r=0.3, P=0.026), while the saliva CXCL10 levels were related to PD measurements (r=0.8, P=0.0007).

Conclusion

CXCL10 is significantly increased in periodontitis subjects as compared with controls and could be used as a marker for periodontal disease.

The pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic, immune-mediated, inflammatory arthropathy that presents with inflammation of the joints and entheses, including those of the axial skeleton, and is associated with increased mortality from cardiovascular disease. Diagnosis is primarily based on clinical phenotype because of the diversity of the associated features, which can include skin and nail disease, dactylitis, uveitis, and osteitis. Improved understanding of the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis has led to the development of effective biologics and small-molecular drugs targeting specific cytokines and signalling pathways, which can prevent disease progression and improve quality of life. However, at least 40% of patients with psoriatic arthritis have only a partial response or fail to respond to such treatments. Cytokine inhibitors, mainly those specific for tumour necrosis factor and, more recently, the interleukin 23-T-helper-17 cell pathway, have been highly successful in the treatment of disease manifestations in several different tissues, although targeting the interleukin 23-T-helper-17 cell pathway might be more effective in psoriasis than in arthritis. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of psoriatic arthritis-which include genetics, environmental factors, and immune-mediated inflammation-are complex, and the relationship between disease of the joint and that of other domains is poorly understood. Improving our understanding of psoriatic arthritis pathogenesis could help to establish validated biomarkers for diagnosis, predict therapeutic response and remission, develop precision medicines, and predict which patients will respond to which therapy. We discuss advances in pathogenetic translational research that could inform these issues.

Applying Statistical and Complex Network Methods to Explore the Key Signaling Molecules of Acupuncture Regulating Neuroendocrine-Immune Network

The mechanisms of acupuncture are still unclear. In order to reveal the regulatory effect of manual acupuncture (MA) on the neuroendocrine-immune (NEI) network and identify the key signaling molecules during MA modulating NEI network, we used a rat complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) model to observe the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of MA, and, what is more, we used statistical and complex network methods to analyze the data about the expression of 55 common signaling molecules of NEI network in ST36 (Zusanli) acupoint, and serum and hind foot pad tissue. The results indicate that MA had significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory effects on CFA rats; the key signaling molecules may play a key role during MA regulating NEI network, but further research is needed.