Serum hepatocyte growth factor levels in patients with inflammatory lung diseases

HGF is a pulmotrophic factor in the regeneration of an injured lung. However, the physiological role of HGF in vivo remains largely unknown. We studied HGF in patients with inflammatory lung diseases to investigate the clinical significance of HGF and compared with C-reactive protein (CRP) in inflammatory lung diseases. Forty-seven patients with inflammatory lung diseases (16 tuberculosis, 18 pneumonia, and 13 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)) were studied. Fifty normal, healthy individuals were analyzed as normal control subjects. Serum HGF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Serum CRP levels were also performed. The mean +/- SE numbers of serum HGF levels in the patients with inflammatory lung diseases (4.33 +/- 0.41 ng/ml) were significantly elevated when compared with those in normal control subjects (0.36 +/- 0.02 ng/ml) (p < 0.0001). Serum HGF levels in patients with COPD was significantly lower than those were with tuberculosis or pneumonia (p < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between serum HGF levels and CRP in inflammatory pulmonary diseases (r = 0.48, p = 0.00087). The significantly decreased serum HGF levels in patients with improved inflammatory lung diseases were also observed subsequently. Our results suggest that secreted HGF may play an important role in bronchial epithelium reconstruction during respiratory inflammation.