Multiplex serum protein analysis reveals potential mechanisms and markers of response to hyperimmune caprine serum in systemic sclerosis

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Hyperimmune caprine serum (HICS) is a novel biological therapy with potential benefit for skin in established diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. Here we report multiplex protein analysis of blood samples from a placebo-controlled phase II clinical trial and explore mechanisms of action and markers of response.

Methods

Patients were treated with HICS ( n = 10) or placebo ( n = 10) over 26 weeks, with follow-up open-label treatment to 52 weeks in 14 patients. Serum or plasma samples at baseline, 26 and 52 weeks were analysed using multiplex or individual immunoassays for 41 proteins. Patterns of change were analysed by clustering using Netwalker 1.0, Pearson coefficient and significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) correction.

Results

Cluster analysis, SAM multiplex testing and paired comparison of individual analytes identified proteins that were upregulated or downregulated during treatment with HICS. There was upregulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis after HICS treatment evidenced by increases in α-MSH and ACTH in cases treated with HICS. Interestingly, significant increase in PIIINP was associated with HICS treatment and improved MRSS suggesting that this may be a marker of extracellular matrix turnover. Other relevant factors reduced in HICS-treated patients compared with controls, although not reaching statistical significance included COMP, CCL2, IL6, TIMP2, Fractalkine and TGFβ1 levels.

Conclusions

Our results suggest mechanisms of action for HICS, including upregulation of α-MSH, that has been shown to be anti-fibrotic in preclinical models, and possible markers to be included in future trials targeting skin in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

Trial registration

Eudract, No. 2007-003122-24. ClinTrials.gov, No. NCT00769028. Registered 7 October 2008.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13075-017-1252-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 26

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Prediction of worsening of skin fibrosis in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis using the EUSTAR database.

Britta Maurer, Nicole Graf, Beat A. Michel … (2015)

To identify predictive parameters for the progression of skin fibrosis within 1 year in patients with diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc). An observational study using the EUSTAR database was performed. Inclusion criteria were dcSSc, American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria fulfilled, modified Rodnan skin score (MRSS) ≥7 at baseline visit, valid data for MRSS at 2nd visit, and available follow-up of 12±2 months. Worsening of skin fibrosis was defined as increase in MRSS >5 points and ≥25% from baseline to 2nd visit. In the univariate analysis, patients with progressive fibrosis were compared with non-progressors, and predictive markers with p<0.2 were included in the logistic regression analysis. The prediction models were then validated in a second cohort. A total of 637 dcSSc patients were eligible. Univariate analyses identified joint synovitis, short disease duration (≤15 months), short disease duration in females/patients without creatine kinase (CK) elevation, low baseline MRSS (≤22/51), and absence of oesophageal symptoms as potential predictors for progressive skin fibrosis. In the multivariate analysis, by employing combinations of the predictors, 17 models with varying prediction success were generated, allowing cohort enrichment from 9.7% progressive patients in the whole cohort to 44.4% in the optimised enrichment cohort. Using a second validation cohort of 188 dcSSc patients, short disease duration, low baseline MRSS and joint synovitis were confirmed as independent predictors of progressive skin fibrosis within 1 year resulting in a 4.5-fold increased prediction success rate. Our study provides novel, evidence-based criteria for the enrichment of dcSSc cohorts with patients who experience worsening of skin fibrosis which allows improved clinical trial design. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

0 comments Cited 42 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Early systemic sclerosis: serum profiling of factors involved in endothelial, T-cell, and fibroblast interplay is marked by elevated interleukin-33 levels.

Serena Vettori, Giovanna Cuomo, Michele Iudici … (2014)

To assess the serum profile of factors involved in endothelial, T-cell, and fibroblast interplay in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) associated with nailfold vodeocapillaroscopy (NVC) scleroderma findings and/or systemic sclerosis (SSc) marker autoantibodies, recently labeled as early SSc patients. Serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), CCL2, CXCL8, IL-13, IL-33, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) were measured in 24 early SSc patients, 48 definite SSc patients, and 24 osteoarthritis/fibromyalgia controls by multiplex suspension immunoassay. All SSc patients were investigated for the presence/absence of preclinical and clinical organ involvement, SSc marker autoantibodies, and NVC abnormalities. Serum sICAM-1, CCL2, CXCL8, and IL-13 were increased in all SSc patients as compared to controls, and paralleled the severity of the disease subset (early SSc < limited cutaneous SSc < diffuse cutaneous SSc; p < 0.0001). Surprisingly, IL-33 was significantly higher in early SSc patients as compared to both controls (p < 0.01) and definite SSc patients (p < 0.05). In early SSc there were no differences in the investigated markers according to the functional and serological features assessed. Our study suggests that an endothelial, T-cell and fibroblast activation can be present in patients with early SSc and it is associated with a distinct profile of circulating factors involved in the cross-talk of these cells. The marked increase of IL-33 in early SSc patients suggests new routes of investigation of cell-cell dynamics in target tissues predating overt disease manifestations, thus opening to new therapeutic approaches.

0 comments Cited 29 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone suppresses bleomycin-induced collagen synthesis and reduces tissue fibrosis in a mouse model of scleroderma: melanocortin peptides as a novel treatment strategy for scleroderma?

Agatha Kokot, Anca Sindrilaru, Meinhard Schiller … (2009)

Recently, we found that human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) express melanocortin 1 receptors (MC-1R) that bind alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH). In search of novel therapies for scleroderma (systemic sclerosis [SSc]), we used the bleomycin (BLM) model to investigate the effects of alpha-MSH on collagen synthesis and fibrosis. Collagen expression in HDFs was determined by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analyses. Signal transduction studies included pharmacologic blockade, immunofluorescence analysis, Western blotting, and reporter-promoter assays. Oxidative stress was measured by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis, and anti-oxidative enzyme levels were determined by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analyses. The effect of alpha-MSH in the BLM mouse model of scleroderma was assessed by histologic, immunohistochemical, real-time RT-PCR, and protein analyses. Expression of MC-1R and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in skin and HDF samples from patients with SSc was determined by RT-PCR and compared with that in samples from normal controls. Treatment with alpha-MSH (and related peptides) suppressed BLM-induced expression of type I and type III collagen in HDFs, and this effect was cAMP-dependent. Neither BLM nor alpha-MSH altered Smad signaling, but antioxidants inhibited BLM-induced collagen expression in vitro. In addition, alpha-MSH suppressed BLM-induced oxidative stress and enhanced the expression of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1). In the BLM mouse model, alpha-MSH reduced skin fibrosis and collagen content and increased tissue levels of SOD2 and HO-1. In skin and HDFs from patients with SSc, both MC-1R and POMC messenger RNAs were detected, but there were no differences compared with healthy controls. Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and related peptides that exert their effects via MC-1R may provide a novel antifibrogenic therapeutic tool for the treatment of fibrotic diseases such as scleroderma.

0 comments Cited 20 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Niamh Quillinan: niamhq@gmail.com

Kristina E. N. Clark: kristina.clark@doctors.org

Bryan Youl: bryanyoul@gmail.com

Jeffrey Vernes: jeffrey.vernes@davalinternational.com

Deirdre McIntosh: d.mcintosh@davalinternational.com

Syed Haq: syedhaq@doctors.org.uk

Christopher P. Denton: 44 20 7794 0432 , c.denton@uc.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Arthritis Res Ther

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Arthritis Res. Ther

Title: Arthritis Research & Therapy

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Print): 1478-6354

ISSN (Electronic): 1478-6362

Publication date (Electronic): 7 March 2017

Publication date PMC-release: 7 March 2017

Publication date (Print): 2017

Volume: 19

Electronic Location Identifier: 45

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000000121901201, GRID grid.83440.3b, , Centre for Rheumatology, UCL Division of Medicine, ; Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF UK

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0439 3380, GRID grid.437485.9, Department of Neurophysiology, , Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, ; London, UK

[3 ]Daval International, London, UK

Article

Publisher ID: 1252

DOI: 10.1186/s13075-017-1252-x

PMC ID: 5341430

PubMed ID: 28270187

SO-VID: 8b911e78-3c1f-4913-b457-5edb768415b7

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 6 September 2016

Date accepted : 1 February 2017

Funding

Funded by: Daval International

Funded by: EULAR Orphan Diseases Programme

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Orthopedics

Keywords: scleroderma,clinical trial,biomarker,goat serum,melanocortin

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Orthopedics

Keywords: scleroderma, clinical trial, biomarker, goat serum, melanocortin

Multiplex serum protein analysis reveals potential mechanisms and markers of response to hyperimmune caprine serum in systemic sclerosis

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

Electronic supplementary material

Related collections

Orthopedics

Most cited references 26

Prediction of worsening of skin fibrosis in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis using the EUSTAR database.

Early systemic sclerosis: serum profiling of factors involved in endothelial, T-cell, and fibroblast interplay is marked by elevated interleukin-33 levels.

alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone suppresses bleomycin-induced collagen synthesis and reduces tissue fibrosis in a mouse model of scleroderma: melanocortin peptides as a novel treatment strategy for scleroderma?

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 50

Cited by 1

Most referenced authors 252