Serum levels of soluble CD163 correlate with the inflammatory process in coeliac disease

Abstract

Summary Backgound In coeliac disease, following the introduction of a gluten‐free diet, monitoring mucosal disease activity requires repeated small intestinal biopsies. If a test measuring a circulating inflammatory marker was available, this would be clinically valuable. Aim To determine if levels of soluble CD163, a scavenger receptor shed by tissue macrophages, correlated with the inflammatory lesion in coeliac disease. Methods Serum samples were collected from 131 patients with untreated coeliac disease, 40 patients with treated coeliac disease, 92 non‐coeliac disease control subjects and 131 healthy controls. A capture enzyme linked immunosorbance assay was established to measure levels of soluble CD163 in sera. The extent of the histological lesion in coeliac biopsies was assessed using a Marsh grading system. Results Levels of CD163 in untreated coeliac subjects were significantly elevated when compared with the treated coeliac patients, the disease control group and the healthy control subjects (P < 0.0001 in each instance). Moreover, coeliac patients with the most marked histological lesion (Marsh 3) had significantly higher levels of soluble CD163 than patients with Marsh grade 2 lesions (P < 0.0004), with grade 1 lesions (P < 0.0001) and grade 0 lesions (P < 0.0001). Conclusions Measurement of soluble CD163 may be a useful method of monitoring the inflammatory lesion in coeliac disease.

Recent advances in celiac disease

“…Bec ause the EMA and anti-tTG responses may remain elevated in CD on a GFD, it may be useful to measure soluble CD163, a sc avenger rec eptor shed by tissue macrophages and correlated with the inflammatory lesion in CD. Those subjec ts with a more severe (Marsh grade 3) lesion had higher levels of CD163 than did those with a milder (Marsh grade 2, grade 1 or grade 0) lesion [53] . Further studies are needed.…”

Diminished production of TWEAK by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with vascular involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis.

“…Whether CD163-depndent clearance of TWEAK could be responsible for diminished amounts of TWEAK in PBMC cell cultures needs to be determined. Elevated expression of CD163 has been reported in chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, asthma, and celiac disease [20][21][22].…”

Soluble macrophage-derived CD163: A homogenous ectodomain protein with a dissociable haptoglobin–hemoglobin binding

“…A soluble form of CD163 (sCD163) present in serum (Sulahian et al 2001;Moller et al 2002b) was some years ago identified and shown to be a marker of macrophage activity. Recent clinical studies have further revealed that sCD163 is a promising marker-molecule for macrophage activation in diseases such as hemophagocytic syndrome, sepsis, autoimmune disorders, and liver disease (Baeten et al 2004;Schaer et al 2005;Moller et al 2007Moller et al , 2006Daly et al 2006;Hiraoka et al 2005).…”