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. 1999 Dec;118(3):441-4.
doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.1999.01083.x.

Serum levels of soluble Fas ligand in patients with silicosis

A Tomokuni  1 , T Otsuki, Y Isozaki, S Kita, H Ueki, M Kusaka, T Kishimoto, A Ueki
Affiliations

Serum levels of soluble Fas ligand in patients with silicosis

A Tomokuni et al. Clin Exp Immunol. 1999 Dec.

Abstract

Certain patients with silicosis have been reported to exhibit immunological abnormalities such as the appearance of antinuclear antibodies and the occurrence of autoimmune diseases. Fas ligand (FasL) is a type II membrane protein which induces apoptosis by binding to its membrane receptor, Fas. FasL is converted to a soluble form by a metalloproteinase-like enzyme. We have already found serum soluble Fas (sFas) levels in silicosis patients as well as in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to be significantly higher than those in healthy volunteers. To examine further the role of the Fas/FasL system in silica-induced immunological abnormalities, we investigated serum soluble FasL (sFasL) levels in silicosis patients with no clinical symptoms of autoimmune diseases, using ELISA for sFasL. Although the serum sFasL levels in patients with SLE were significantly higher than those in healthy volunteers and showed a slight positive correlation with serum sFas levels, those in silicosis patients exhibited no significant difference from those in healthy volunteers, and there was no correlation with serum sFas levels. However, sFasL levels were elevated in silicosis patients with slight dyspnoea or normal PCO2 among various clinical parameters of silicosis. It may be speculated that the immunological disturbances presented by the abnormalities of apoptosis-related molecules in silicosis patients do not occur with a similar degree of respiratory involvement. Further studies are required to clarify which kinds of factors are involved in silicosis patients who exhibit immunological abnormalities.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Serum levels of soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) in healthy volunteers (Cont.) and patients with silicosis, progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Serum sFasL levels were analysed using a sFasL ELISA kit. A, Average age. Bars indicate the mean ± s.d. in each group.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlation between the serum levels of sFas and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) in patients with silicosis (a) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (b). r, Pearson's correlation coefficient.
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