Advances in the research on application of KL-6 in the diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung disease / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Interstitial lung disease represents a group of diffuse pulmonary diseases that mainly affects pulmonary mesenchyme and alveolar spaces,resulting in loss of alveolar-capillary functions.It is also a common complication or an important factor that influences the prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis,dermatomyositis,systemic sclerosis.Searching for the biomarkers for the early diagnosis of the disease and/or indicative of the activity of the condition has been a subject of active investigations.KL-6,expressed on type Ⅱ pneumocytes,is seen as the most promising biomarker for the diagnosis of the disease.This review summarizes the recent researches about the use of KL-6 in the diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung disease.