Author/Authors :
Murohashi, Kota Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan , Hara, Yu Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan , Shinada, Kanako Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan , Nagai, Kenjiro Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan , Shinkai, Masaharu Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan , Kawana, Akihiko Division of Infectious Diseases and Pulmonary Medicine - Department of Internal Medicine - National Defense Medical College, Saitama, Japan , Kaneko, Takeshi Department of Pulmonology - Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan
Abstract :
Background. Serum hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been proposed to be a biomarker of lung disease activity and prognosis. -e
present study aimed at evaluating whether HO-1 could be a useful marker for evaluating disease activity and predicting prognosis
in patients with interstitial pneumonia (IP). Materials and Methods. Serum HO-1 levels of newly diagnosed or untreated patients
with IP were measured at hospitalization. We evaluated the relationships between serum HO-1 and other serum biomarkers, high
resolution CT (HRCT) findings, and hospital mortality. Results. Twenty-eight patients with IP, including 14 having an acute
exacerbation (AE) and 14 not having an AE, were evaluated. -e patients having an AE had significantly higher HO-1 levels than
those not having an AE (53.5 ng/mL vs. 24.1 ng/mL; p < 0.001), and the best cut-off level to discriminate between having an AE or
not having an AE was 41.6 ng/mL. Serum HO-1 levels were positively correlated with serum levels of surfactant protein-D
(r = 0.66, p < 0.001) and the ground glass opacity score (calculated from HRCT; r = 0.40, p =0.036). Patients who subsequently
died in hospital had presented with significantly higher HO-1 levels than those who did not die in hospital (64.8 ng/mL vs. 32.0 ng/
mL; p = 0.009). Conclusion. Serum HO-1 may serve as a useful biomarker for detecting AE or predicting hospital mortality in
patients with IP.
