Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 92, Issue 2, February 1998, Pages 273-278
Respiratory Medicine

Original article
Measurement of hepatocyte growth factor in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in patients with pulmonary fibrosis

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0954-6111(98)90108-1Get rights and content
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Abstract

The present study evaluated the clinical significance of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Twenty-one patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis [14 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and seven with pulmonary fibrosis associated with a collagen vascular disorder (PF-CVD)] and 21 normal subjects as control were studied. HGF levels in sera of patients with pulmonary fibrosis (0·34 ± 0·02 ng ml−1) were elevated significantly as compared with normal subjects (0·21 ± 0·01 ng ml−1) (P<0·0001). HGF/albumin levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with pulmonary fibrosis (72 ± 17 ng g−1 albumin) were also significantly elevated as compared with normal subjects (under the detection limit) (P<0·01). HGF levels in sera correlated significantly with elastase levels in sera and C-reactive protein, and correlated negatively with PaO2. HGF levels in sera were significantly higher in smokers with pulmonary fibrosis (0·42 ± 0·03 ng ml−1) as compared with non-smokers with pulmonary fibrosis (0·29 ± 0·03 ng ml−1) (P<0·005). HGF/albumin levels in BALF correlated significantly with elastase/albumin levels in BALF, lactate dehydrogenase/albumin in BALF, Immunoglobulin A/albumin in BALF, total cell count/albumin in BALF, total number of alveolar macrophage/albumin in BALF, total number of neutrophil/albumin in BALF, CEA/albumin in BALF, CA19-9/albumin in BALF, and SCC/albumin in BALF. These results suggest that following lung injury, HGF may be a mediator involved in the repair which leads to pulmonary fibrosis.

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