OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cell surface expression of cell membrane-bound peptidases CD10 and CD26 on osteoarthritic (OA) chondrocytes, correlating it with the cell cycle phase and with the severity of OA lesions found in different load zones of the cartilage from human knees. METHODS: Chondrocytes freshly isolated from three different load zones of cartilage, obtained from 10 OA patients undergoing surgical knee replacement, were analyzed for the expression of CD10 and CD26 and for their cell cycle phase by flow cytometry. Statistical analysis was carried out using the multifactorial analysis of the variance with the LSD (least square difference) range test. The Chi square test was used to compare the cell cycle phases. RESULTS: Analysis of the chondrocyte cell cycle showed a significantly high proportion of cells in the S-phase in the maximum load zone in comparison with the minimum load zone (p < 0.001); the percentage of resting cells (G0/G1 phase) was significantly higher in the minimum load zone than in the maximum load zone (p < 0.001). The expression of CD10 and CD26 on chondrocytes was significantly reduced in the maximum load zone of the cartilage and was directly related to the progressive worsening of osteoarthritic lesions. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate, for the first time, that articular chondrocytes express on their surface CD10 and CD26 peptidases. Neprilysin 3.4.24.11 (CD10) and dipeptidyl peptidase IV 3.4.14.15 (CD26) have been shown to play a specific role in the control of growth and differentiation of many cell types by cleaving growth factors able to promote cellular proliferation. Our results indicate that CD10 and CD26 are down-regulated in the maximum load zone of the knee OA cartilage: this condition may allow the increase of local levels of growth factors causing chondrocyte activation. Furthermore, as CD26 mediates cell binding to fibronectin and collagen, its reduction in osteoarthritic cartilage may reflect a perturbation of chondrocyte interactions with the extracellular matrix.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Esophageal motility disorders in the rheumatic diseases: a review of 150 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatic diseases are a group of systemic disorders that may be concurrent with Raynaud's phenomenon and involvement of the internal organs, in particular the esophagus. Esophageal motor abnormalities have been widely described in systemic sclerosis, but have not frequently been reported in other diseases. In the present study we have examined the prevalence and pattern of esophageal motility disorders in different rheumatic diseases. METHODS: Esophageal manometry was performed on 150 patients, 21 males and 129 females, suffering from different rheumatic diseases (SSc, RA, SLE, MCTD, undifferentiated CTD, or DM/PM) and on 30 healthy controls. RESULTS: Functional involvement of the esophagus was demonstrated in all the rheumatic diseases considered, although at varying percentages. The frequencies of the functional abnormalities differed when each disease was considered separately. In SSc patients abnormalities were found more frequently in the lower esophageal sphincter (81.8%) and in the esophageal body (84.8%); data for the DM/PM and MCTD patients broadly overlapped. On the contrary, in SLE the lower sphincter appeared to be less (or even not at all) impaired, while the most specific disorder was an isolated abnormal peristalsis. RP did not always correlate with manometric changes in all of the groups studied. CONCLUSIONS: Three conclusions derive from our study: i) motor disorders affecting the esophagus were not only found in SSc, but also in all forms of non-lupus CTD; ii) the simultaneous involvement of the esophageal body and the lower esophageal sphincter is discriminant between non-lupus CTD and SLE; and iii) RP may be regarded as a condition pathogenetically unrelated to manometrically detected esophageal motor abnormalities.

Adolescent↗