The elevated level of osteopontin in patients with pemphigus vulgaris: A cytokine‐like protein with a therapeutic potential

Abstract

Background Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a life‐threatening autoimmune disease with no certain treatment. Anticytokine therapy is being increasingly discussed in multiple autoimmune diseases. Osteopontin (OPN) is a glycoprotein produced by a variety of immune cells. Increased OPN serum levels have been reported in several autoimmune diseases, with targeting OPN considered as a promising therapy in these diseases. However, the role of OPN in PV has not been well studied so far. Objective To investigate whether OPN level is elevated in PV patients in the active stage of the disease and to examine its possible relationship with disease severity and anti‐desmoglein (anti‐Dsg) antibodies levels. Materials and Methods This study included 53 consecutive subjects affected by PV and 38 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. Clinical characteristics and Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity Score (ABSIS) were assessed. Serum OPN levels (pg/mL) and anti‐Dsg antibodies were also measured. Results The serum OPN level of the patient group proved to be statistically higher than that of the control group (11.08 ± 5.24 vs 8.47 ± 5.68; p = .02). No significant relationship were detected between the serum OPN level and anti‐Dsg1 or anti‐Dsg3 antibodies (r = 0.1, p = .2 and r = 0.1, p = .4), respectively. In addition, no correlation was found between serum OPN levels and severity of PV as measured by ABSIS (r = 0.08 and p = .5). Conclusion The growth observed in OPN levels in pemphigus patients suggests the role of OPN in pemphigus pathogenesis, but there is a need for more extensive studies to show how OPN can be associated with the PV pathogenesis and whether OPN could be used as an important therapeutic target in pemphigus disease.

Elevated Serum Levels of Interleukin-15 in Pemphigus Vulgaris Patients: A Potential Therapeutic Target

“…IL-15 is involved in the pathogenesis of a variety of autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren disease, Behcet disease, systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [3,15]_ENREF_14. There has been little information about the exact role of IL-15 in pemphigus pathogenesis or how IL-15 production relates to the severity of pemphigus.…”

“…Auto-antibodies against the desmosomal adhesion proteins of epidermal keratinocytes, desmoglein3 and/or desmoglein 1, lead to the loss of epidermal cell adhesion and development of erosive lesions [1,2]. To date, different cytokines, such as osteopontin, interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-21 have been suggested to be associated with disease pathogenesis and severity [3][4][5]. These cytokines contribute to rising proinflammatory responses and production of autoantibodies through differentiation of naïve T-cells into effector T -ells, increased B-cell responses, and favors a class switch to IgG4.…”