ABSTRACT
Objective To detect the expressions of osteopontin (OPN) and inerleukin-18 in patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP),and to analyze their relationship with clinical and laboratory indices.Methods Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to quantify the serum levels of osteopontin (OPN) and inerleukin (IL)-18 in 30 patients with BP and 30 health controls.Results The serum level of OPN was statistically higher in the patients than in the healthy controls ((8.29 ± 2.76) vs.(3.88 ± 1.41 ) ng/ml,P ＜ 0.01 ),and was positively correlated with the severity of BP (r =0.658,P ＜ 0.01 ) and with some laboratory indices in the patients.Increased serum IL-18 level was observed in patients complicated by cardiovascular diseases compared with those without cardiovascular diseases ((37.49 ± 6.43) vs.(31.10 ± 5.40) pg/ml,P ＜ 0.01).Moreover,the BP patients with diabetes,tumor,hepatic and renal impairment displayed an enhanced level of serum OPN and IL-18 than those without (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions OPN may be positively correlated with the severity of BP,while IL-18 may be involved in the development of complications of BP.