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Increased production of endothelin-1 in patients with inflammatory arthritides
1Department of Immunological Diseases, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
Objective:
Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictive peptide, but its precise mechanism of action in vivo has remained unknown.
Methods:
We measured ET-1 activity by radioimmunoassay, in both plasma and synovial fluid from patients with inflammatory arthritides.
Results:
ET-1-like immunoreactivity was found in synovial fluid, at levels severalfold higher than those in plasma. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography showed an elution profile corresponding to actual ET-1. A single class of high-affinity binding sites for ET-1 in cultured synovial cells was also detected. Furthermore, ET-1 induced mild DNA synthesis in synovial cells.
Conclusion:
Taken together, these results indicate that ET-1 might contribute to the synovial proliferation seen in inflammatory arthritides, in an autocrine/paracrine manner.