Biomedicines (Jun 2023)

Plasma Osteopontin Reflects Tissue Damage in Acute Pancreatitis

  • Lina Wirestam,
  • Pernilla Benjaminsson Nyberg,
  • Todor Dzhendov,
  • Thomas Gasslander,
  • Per Sandström,
  • Christopher Sjöwall,
  • Bergthor Björnsson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11061627
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 6
p. 1627

Abstract

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Several scoring systems for clinical prediction of the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) have been proposed. Yet, there is still a need for an easy-to-measure biomarker. Osteopontin (OPN) may be released to the circulation early during tissue injury, but the significance of OPN in AP has not yet been established. We aimed to evaluate plasma levels of OPN in relation to the severity of AP. In 39 individuals with confirmed AP, plasma was collected on the day of admission and consecutively for three days thereafter. Sex- and age-matched healthy blood donors (n = 39) served as controls. Plasma OPN was measured by a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. At admission, patients with AP displayed higher OPN, 156.4 ng/mL (IQR 111.8–196.2) compared to controls, 37.4 ng/mL (IQR 11.7–65.7) (p p = 0.01). This indicates that OPN is a relevant biomarker reflecting tissue injury in AP. The increase in OPN over time suggests that serial OPN measurements could contribute to the early detection of at-risk patients. Prospective studies assessing OPN in relation to outcome in AP are warranted.

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