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The role of endothelial cell reactive antibodies in peripheral arterial disease

No / Objectives
It is hypothesised that endothelial cell reactive antibodies (ECRA) play a role in the progression of PAD through activation of endothelial cells and the release of inflammatory cytokines. We aimed to test this hypothesis by assessing levels of ECRA, E-selectin and IL-6 in patients with PAD of varying severity in a case controlled study.

Design, materials, methods
Patients were assessed clinically and with ankle¿brachial pressure indices. Patients with critical ischaemia (CI, n=30), stable claudicants (SC, n=30), and age-matched controls (AMC, n=20) were studied. Antibody, E-selectin and IL-6 levels were measured using ELISA.

Results
ECRA levels were significantly raised in the CI group over AMC.

IL-6 levels were significantly elevated in both SC and CI over the control group and in CI over SC.

There were no significant differences in E-selectin levels between the AMC, SC and CI.

Conclusion
Our findings support the hypothesis that autoantibodies play a role in promoting PAD by elevating IL-6. The absence of an elevation in E-selectin in this study may be due to its short half-life, and casts doubt on its value as a marker of inflammation in atherosclerosis.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/2888
Date January 2006
CreatorsLindsey, Nigel J., Armitage, J.D., Homer-Vanniasinkam, Shervanthi
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, No full-text in the repository

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