دراسة مستويات أوستيوبونتين البلازما لدى مرضى فشل القلب

الملخص EN

Background : The osteopontin (OPN), is a glycoprotein composed of 300 amino acid residues, and it weighs about 400 kDa, it was identified for the first time in 1986 in osteoblasts, it is an extracellular structural protein and a member of an extracellular matrix proteins family.

The aim : Our research aimed to study the plasma levels of osteopontin in patients with heart failure, and then evaluate if these levels are important in order to predict the degree of the disease progression , we aimed also from our study to compare the levels of OPN as an inflammatory cytokine with the levels of other most important inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) in this case of heart failure.

Materials and methods: Blood samples were drawn from 112 heart failure patients (whatever its causes), they have been classified according to the NYHA functional classification of heart failure.

Other blood samples was also drawn from 26 apparently healthy subjects as a control group.

OPN, IL-6 and TNF-α were measured using sandwich ELISA assay.

Results: OPN plasma levels in heart failure patients were significantly higher than those in control group, also these increased plasma levels of OPN were compatible with the degree of the disease, which is useful in predicting the seriousness of the situation.

Our study also showed significantly increased levels of IL- 6 and TNF-α in patients with heart failure compared with the control group, but these increased levels were not accuracy and reliability in order to predict the risk, especially in the advanced stages of the disease.

Conclusion: Our study showed that the OPN protein is an inflammatory cytokine which plays an important role in the inflammatory condition in the heart failure disease, it can be used to evaluate the risk of the situation and to determine the degree of the disease progression because of its distancing on the other inflammatory cytokines, especially in the advanced stages of the disease.