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Osteopontin - Rapid rise in blood protein may signal beginning of Mesothelioma
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Last month researchers published a paper describing the role of a protein found in the blood called osteopontin in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. This disease is very similar to Asbestosis where fibrotic tissue forms in the lungs and damages the lungs ability to transfer oxygen to the blood. The word idiopathic simply means that the cause is not known. It may be an autoimmune reaction to a viral infection or pollutants.
Osteopontin is a multifunctional cytokine, meaning that it is a protein that has a regulatory effect on several types of cells and processes. It is thought to affect such things as bone resorption, the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells (malignant transformation) and the spread of cancer. It also has a role in inflammation and cellular immunity.
In the study the researchers took samples from people suffering from IPF and looked at the gene expression, that is which proteins were being made. They found that people with IPF had higher levels of osteopontin. Earlier studies on mice have suggested that osteopontin has a key role in fibrosis development by increasing the growth and movement of the fibrosis forming cells.
In tomorrow's New England Journal of Medicine a research team led by Mesothelioma expert Dr. Harvey Pass report using osteopontin levels to distinguish people exposed to asbestos, including those with plaques and fibrosis, to patients with surgically staged pleural mesothelioma. Patients with mesothelioma had osteopontin levels an average of 6 times higher than those exposed to asbestos without mesothelioma. In addition Immunohistochemical staining found osteopontin staining on 36 of 38 tumors.
This study and those done previously could hold some hope for future mesothelioma patients. Patients exposed to Asbestos could get regular blood tests to monitor their osteopontin levels. A sudden increase may indicate that cancerous changes have started and early treatment could begin.
Osteopontin itself might be a target for therapy. If its effects could be inhibited by a drug, perhaps much of the damage caused by fibrosis could be averted, allowing asbestosis patients to have a much better quality of life. Osteopontin has been suggested as a target to prevent cancer metastasis.
