Objective: A pilot study to determine endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) number in children with Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM).
Methods: After obtaining informed consent, the EPC number from 34 fasting children with definite/probable JDM at various stages of therapy-initially untreated, active disease on medication and clinically inactive, off medication-was compared with 13 healthy fasting pediatric controls. The EPC number was determined by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), CD34/VEGFR2/CD45dim, and assessed in conjunction with clinical variables: disease activity scores (DAS), duration of untreated disease (DUD), TNF-α allelic polymorphism (A/G) at the promoter region of -308, number of nailfold capillary end row loop (ERL) and von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF:Ag). Correlations of the EPC numbers with the clinical and demographic variables, including DAS Skin (DAS SK), DAS Weakness (DAS WK), DAS Total Score, DUD, Cholesterol, triglycerides, High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL), and ERL were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Tests of associations of EPC with gender (boy vs girl), TNF-α-308A allele (GA/AA vs GG), vWF:Ag (categorized by specific ABO type) as normal/abnormal were performed, using two-sample T- tests.
Results: The EPC number for JDM was not significantly different from the healthy controls and was not associated with any of the clinical or cardiovascular risk factors tested.
Conclusion: The EPC for JDM were in the normal range, similar to adults with DM. These data support the concept that the normal EPC numbers in DM/JDM, irrespective of age, differs from adult PM, where they are decreased, perhaps reflecting a different pathophysiology.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5436461 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12969-017-0171-3 | DOI Listing |
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