Prognostic value of serum hyaluronic acid and type I and III procollagen propeptides in extrahepatic biliary atresia.

Although portoenterostomy has greatly improved the prognosis of extrahepatic biliary atresia (EHBA), 10-20% of patients still die before 5 y of age, and the only treatment option is liver transplantation (LT). To investigate whether these patients may be identified at an early stage, when the changes of successful LT are optimal, we have measured serum concentrations of hyaluronic acid (HA), the amino-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) and the carboxy-terminal and amino-terminal propeptides of type I procollagen (PICP, PINP) in 24 selected patients with EHBA, both before portoenterostomy and then every 6 mo until death (n = 10, age at death = 7-20 mo), LT (n = 6, age at LT = 1.1-4.

Measurement of epithelial and stromal changes in vulvar carcinoma - a clinical, biochemical and immunohistochemical study.

We evaluated the clinical usefulness of the squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) and CA 125, serum markers of epithelial cancer cells, in comparison with the serum concentration and tissue distribution of the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP), a marker of connective tissue metabolism, in 31 patients with vulvar carcinoma. The SCC concentration was increased in 42%, that of CA 125 in 14% and that of PIIINP in 36% of the cases. The combination of SCC and PIIINP increased the detection rate to 57% and that of all three to 64%.

Comparison of the effect of hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone-17-butyrate and betamethasone on collagen synthesis in human skin in vivo.

It has been shown previously that topical corticosteroid treatment decreases collagen synthesis in human skin in vivo and that the adverse effects are due to reduced collagen synthesis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone-17-butyrate and betamethasone on collagen synthesis in human skin in vivo. Fourteen healthy male volunteers applied hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone-17-butyrate, betamethasone and vehicle twice a day for one week to four separate areas marked on their abdominal skin.

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1, a clinically useful tumor marker in endometrial adenocarcinoma: comparison with CA 125 and the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen.

Objective: We investigated the clinical utility of macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1 versus CA 125 and the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen in endometrial carcinoma.

Study Design: Serum levels of the three substances were measured in 159 patients with untreated endometrial adenocarcinoma and in 24 patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy for recurrent endometrial adenocarcinoma.

Results: Initial concentrations of colony-stimulating factor 1, CA 125, and the aminoterminal peptide of type III procollagen were above the normal range in 73%, 11%, and 27%, respectively, of the patients.

Responses of type I and type III collagen synthesis after replacement of the hip joint.

Liberation of the carboxy-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP) and the amino-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) into body fluids reflects synthesis of the respective collagen types. Here, we followed PICP and PIIINP in serum with specific radioimmunoassays after hip surgery. Preoperative median of S-PICP was 112 micrograms/liter (range 87 to 154, n = 9), the 1-day median being 58 micrograms/liter (33 to 79).

Type I collagen degradation product (ICTP) gives information about the nature of bone metastases and has prognostic value in prostate cancer.

Although osteosclerotic bone metastases are characteristic of prostate cancer, mixed metastases with a lytic component are not uncommon. Type I collagen is synthesised by osteoblasts and accounts for about 90% of the organic matrix of bone. We have used new specific immunoassays for PICP (carboxy-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen) and ICTP (cross-linked carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen) which allow simultaneous assessment of the synthesis and degradation of type I collagen respectively.

Immunohistochemical study of type I collagen and type I pN-collagen in benign and malignant ovarian neoplasms.

Background: Type I collagen is a major constituent of the interstitial connective tissue. Although ovarian carcinoma is known to induce the expression of type I collagen in the peritoneal cavity, the distribution and metabolic activity of this collagen in ovarian tumor tissue are not known.

Methods: The distributions and staining intensities of different molecular forms of type I collagen in ovarian neoplasms were studied immunohistochemically with antibodies to the aminoterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP) and the cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), reflecting the presence of newly synthesized and old, cross-linked type I collagen, respectively.

Elevated serum ICTP concentrations reflect poor prognosis in patients with ovarian carcinoma.

The effect of ovarian carcinoma on the circulating concentration of the cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) was studied in 17 patients before and during treatment. ICTP is a complex peptide released from type I collagen, which is the main organic component of bone matrix but also induced in ovarian carcinoma tissue and the peritoneal cavity by the tumour. CA 125 and the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) were also measured.

Increased collagen synthesis in psoriasis in vivo.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease of unknown a etiology which also involves changes in dermal elements. Previous in vitro studies have shown an increased collagen synthesis rate in cultured fibroblasts. In this study collagen synthesis was studied in vivo in the uninvolved skin of psoriatic patients using a newly developed method in which collagen propeptides were measured in suction blister fluid.

Topical mometasone furoate and betamethasone-17-valerate decrease collagen synthesis to a similar extent in human skin in vivo.

Topical corticosteroids are used extensively to treat inflammatory skin diseases. Long-term use, however, may be associated with adverse effects such as skin atrophy. New steroids have been developed with the objective of increasing efficacy and reducing the incidence of adverse effects.

Altered collagen expression in human dentin: increased reactivity of type III and presence of type VI in dentinogenesis imperfecta, as revealed by immunoelectron microscopy.

We used transmission immunoelectron microscopy and polyclonal antibodies to study the reactivities of Types III and VI collagen in dentin of normal human permanent and primary teeth and in primary teeth from five patients with dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) associated with osteogenesis imperfecta and occurring as a single trait. In the normal permanent tooth, reactivity of Type III collagen was occasional and, where present, peritubular. Staining of normal primary teeth was less occasional but still rare, whereas the abnormal dentin stained more uniformly.

Pachydermoperiostosis: analysis of the connective tissue abnormality in one family.

Background: Pachydermoperiostosis (PDP) is a rare hereditary disease characterized by hyperostosis, clubbing of fingers, coarse skin, and abnormalities in other organs, such as the gastrointestinal tract. Previous studies have disclosed several abnormalities in the connective tissue in these patients.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate connective tissue abnormalities in one family with PDP.

Serum ionized calcium, intact PTH and novel markers of bone turnover in bedridden elderly patients.

Chronic immobilization could markedly affect calcium and bone metabolism in elderly people. To investigate this, and to test the theory of 'type II' osteoporosis in bedridden elderly patients with low vitamin D status, 55 such subjects were examined. Serum concentrations of ionized calcium (Ca++), intact parathyrin (PTH) and two novel markers of bone collagen formation (carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen; PICP) and resorption (carboxyterminal crosslinked telopeptide of type I collagen; ICTP) were measured.

Systemic glucocorticoids decrease the synthesis of type I and type III collagen in human skin in vivo, whereas isotretinoin treatment has little effect.

The effects of systemic glucocorticoid and isotretinoin treatments on type I and type III collagen synthesis in intact skin were investigated by measuring the carboxyterminal and aminoterminal propeptides of type I procollagen, and the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen, in suction blister fluid (SBF), in a study of 27 patients. All three parameters were significantly lower in the SBF of glucocorticoid-treated patients than in controls or patients undergoing treatment with isotretinoin, whereas the latter two groups did not differ significantly from each other. During glucocorticoid treatment, the concentrations of the procollagen propeptides were only about 20% of the corresponding control values, indicating that systemic therapy with prednisone at a dose of 0.

Type I collagen degradation product in serum of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: relationship to disease activity and radiological progression in a 3-year follow-up.

The new assay of cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), a serum marker for bone collagen degradation, was evaluated in serial measurements of 66 patients with early RA during a 3-yr prospective study. Initially 51% of RA patients had elevated levels of serum ICTP compared to healthy controls. During the subsequent months after starting anti-rheumatic treatment, the mean ICTP levels decreased in parallel with the clinical and laboratory variables measuring disease activity.

Effect of the menopause and hormone replacement therapy on the carboxy-terminal pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen.

We investigated the effect of the menopause and postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on the serum concentration of carboxy-terminal pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), a potential new biochemical marker of bone resorption. A group of 44 healthy postmenopausal women, aged 45-54 years, had about 19% higher serum ICTP than did a group of 42 healthy premenopausal women aged 35-50 years (3.6 +/- 0.

Collagen synthesis in human skin in vivo: modulation by aging, ultraviolet B irradiation and localization.

The effect of aging, sex, skin location and a short whole body ultraviolet B (UVB) phototherapy on type I and type III skin collagen synthesis were studied by measuring carboxy- and aminoterminal propeptides of type I and aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagens (PICP, PINP and PIIINP, respectively) in suction blister fluid (SBF). The concentrations of PICP and PIIINP correlated negatively with age in the material of 30 men and 27 women (age range 23-86 years, mean age 51 years). As the subjects were divided into 3 age groups (23-34, 35-54 and 55-86 years) and the mean concentrations of the procollagens were compared between the groups, the youngest age groups in men and in the whole material had significantly higher concentrations than the two older age groups.

Differential processing of type I and type III procollagens in the tumour cysts and peritoneal ascitic fluid of patients with benign and malignant ovarian tumours.

Progressive ovarian carcinoma induces the synthesis of type I and type III procollagens both in the tumour tissue and in the peritoneal cavity. We studied the processing of these proteins by determining the different antigen forms related to their propeptide parts by gel filtration and subsequent immunological assays. Samples of ovarian cyst fluid and peritoneal ascitic fluid were obtained from patients with benign and malignant ovarian tumours.

Increased type I collagen degradation in early rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To evaluate the serum concentration of the mature, crosslinked carboxy terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) in patients with early onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to assess its correlation with clinically relevant features of the disease.

Methods: The serum ICTP concentration was measured in 99 adult patients with RA with a duration of disease less than one year. The main clinical outcome measures were joint count, modified Lansbury index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), Larsen index and number of erosions in peripheral joints.

Familial high serum concentrations of the carboxyl-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen.

We describe a family with an apparently autosomal-dominant trait that caused extremely high circulating concentrations of the carboxyl-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP). All family members examined had normal values for other biochemical markers of bone formation and degradation and no related clinical abnormalities. Furthermore, their serum concentrations of the amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP) were normal.

Genetic influences on type I collagen synthesis and degradation: further evidence for genetic regulation of bone turnover.

Circulating osteocalcin, a marker of bone formation, is under strong genetic influence, and this effect is related to the genetic influence on bone density. To examine genetic influences on bone turnover further, other markers of bone formation (serum carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen, PICP), bone resorption (serum pyridinoline cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen, ICTP), and nonosseous connective tissue synthesis (serum aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen, PIIINP) were studied in 82 female twin pairs: 42 monozygotic (MZ) and 40 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs (mean age, MZ; 48.4 yr; DZ; 45.

Type-I and type-iii procollagen metabolites and ca 125 in epithelial ovarian-cancer.

The clinical courses of 24 patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer were monitored with serial serum CA125, PIIINP and PICP determinations before, during and after treatment. Initial serum CA125, PIIINP and PICP concentrations were pathologic in 93%, 80% and 11% of the cases, respectively. Eight patients responded to therapy with complete remission and 16 patients died of the malignancy.