Serum Syndecan-1 Levels and Its Relationship to Disease Activity in Patients with Crohn’s Disease

Abstract

Background. Syndecan-1 (SDC-1), a member of the family of heparan sulfate proteoglycans, plays an important role in the resolution of inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between SDC-1 and disease activity in Crohn's disease (CD). Methods. Serum samples of 54 patients with CD and 30 healthy controls were obtained. First, SDC-1 levels of the CD patients were compared to the control group. Subsequently, SDC-1 levels were analyzed in patients with CD in active and remission periods. Finally, SDC-1 efficacy in predicting disease activity was evaluated by performing correlation analysis between SDC-1 and C-reactive protein (CRP) and Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI). Results. SDC-1 level was higher in the CD group (61.9 ± 42.6 ng/mL) compared with the control group (34.1 ± 8.0 ng/mL) (p = 0.03). SDC-1 levels were higher in active CD patients (97.1 ± 40.3 ng/mL) compared with those in remission (33.7 ± 13.5 ng/mL) (p < 0.001). A significant positive correlation was found between SDC-1 and CRP (r = 0.687, p < 0.001) and between SDC-1 and CDAI (r = 0.747, p < 0.001). Conclusion. Serum levels of SDC-1 are higher in CD compared to the normal population and can be an effective marker of disease severity.

Syndecan-1 deficiency promotes tumor growth in a murine model of colitis-induced colon carcinoma

“…Additionally, loss of Sdc1 expression is a characteristic feature of IBD both in experimental [20,25,26] and clinical [22,23,24] settings.…”

“…In addition to extensively-documented changes in degree of immunocyte infiltration and levels of inflammatory cytokines in the course of cancer-promoting colonic inflammation, alterations in the expression of HSPG (in particular, decrease in Sdc1) were observed in both mouse and human studies [20,22,23,25]. While numerous reports have characterized the contribution of inflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-6, TNFalpha) and their downstream transcription factors (NFkappaB, STAT3) in the development of inflammation-associated colon cancer (reviewed in [42,46,48,52,54,55,56]), limited data is available regarding the effect of altered levels of Sdc1 on the pathogenesis of colitis-associated tumors.…”

“…Indeed, Sdc1 deficiency was shown to cause protein leakage and to make the intestine more susceptible to proinflammatory cytokines and pressure [19]. Importantly, reduced levels of Sdc1 were found in the colon of patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) [22,23,24] and in a murine model of IBD [20,25,26]. Of note, Sdc1 deficient ( Sdc1-KO ) mice exhibit an enhanced inflammatory phenotype in a model of chemically induced acute colitis as evidenced by enhanced leukocyte infiltration, increased levels of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules, and increased mortality [27]; however the effect of Sdc1 deficiency on chronic colitis was not investigated until recently.…”

Glycocalyx and its involvement in clinical pathophysiologies

“…In addition, biomarkers of the GCX are also being considered as possible indicators of the prognosis and diagnosis of various other diseases. Positive associations with these biomarkers have already been demonstrated for diabetes mellitus [ 57 ], cardiac surgery [ 58 ], Alzheimer disease [ 59 ], hematological disease [ 60 , 61 ], and Crohn’s disease [ 62 ] (Table 2 ). Thus, damage to the GCX, as reflected by the plasma syndecan-1 concentration, is attracting attention in critical care fields.…”

Diagnostic Markers for Nonspecific Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

“…The SDC-1 levels assessed in the serum of CD patients were found to be higher when compared to the healthy population. In addition, syndecan-1 concentrations were correlated with severity of the disease [ 92 ].…”