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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1479458
This article is part of the Research Topic The Role of Inflammation in Organ Injury View all 6 articles

The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid CD44 as a marker for pulmonary fibrosis in diffuse parenchymal lung diseases

Provisionally accepted
Vladimir Leksa Vladimir Leksa 1*Magda Suchankova Magda Suchankova 2Eszter Zsemlye Eszter Zsemlye 2Jan Urban Jan Urban 2Peter Baráth Peter Baráth 3Lenka Kohútová Lenka Kohútová 3Barbara Siváková Barbara Siváková 3Martina Ganovska Martina Ganovska 4Elena Tibenska Elena Tibenska 5Kinga Szaboova Kinga Szaboova 5Eva Tedlova Eva Tedlova 2Dominik Juskanic Dominik Juskanic 6Kristina Kluckova Kristina Kluckova 2Michaela Kardohelyova Michaela Kardohelyova 2Tetiana Moskalets Tetiana Moskalets 3Anna Ohradanova-Repic Anna Ohradanova-Repic 7Patrik Babulic Patrik Babulic 3Maria Bucova Maria Bucova 2
  • 1 Institute of Molecular Biology (SAS), Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 2 Comenius University, Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 3 Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 4 National Institute for Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, Vysne Hagy, Slovakia, Vysne Hagy, Slovakia
  • 5 Medirex Ltd., Bratislava, Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 6 JESSENIUS – Diagnostic Center, Nitra, Slovakia; Slovak Medical University, Faculty of Medicine, Bratislava, Slovakia, Nitra, Slovakia
  • 7 Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Diffuse parenchymal lung diseases (DPLD) cover heterogeneous types of lung disorders. Among many pathological phenotypes, pulmonary fibrosis is the most devastating and represents a characteristic sign of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Despite a poor prognosis brought by pulmonary fibrosis, there are no specific diagnostic biomarkers for the initial development of this fatal condition. The major hallmark of lung fibrosis is uncontrolled activation of lung fibroblasts to myofibroblasts associated with extracellular matrix deposition and the loss of both lung structure and function. Here, we used this peculiar feature in order to identify specific biomarkers of pulmonary fibrosis in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF). The primary MRC-5 human fibroblasts were activated with BALF collected from patients with clinically diagnosed lung fibrosis; the activated fibroblasts were then washed rigorously, and further incubated to allow secretion. Afterwards, the secretomes were analysed by mass spectrometry. In this way, the CD44 protein was identified; consequently, BALF of all DPLD patients were positively tested for the presence of CD44 by ELISA. Finally, biochemical and biophysical characterizations revealed an exosomal origin of CD44. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis confirmed CD44 in BALF as a specific and reliable biomarker of IPF and other types of DPLD accompanied with pulmonary fibrosis.

    Keywords: Diffuse parenchymal lung diseases, Pulmonary Fibrosis, bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, CD44, exosomes Abbreviations antibody, Ab, bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, BALF, connective tissue disease-associated ILD, CTD-ILD, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, DLCO

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 19 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Leksa, Suchankova, Zsemlye, Urban, Baráth, Kohútová, Siváková, Ganovska, Tibenska, Szaboova, Tedlova, Juskanic, Kluckova, Kardohelyova, Moskalets, Ohradanova-Repic, Babulic and Bucova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Vladimir Leksa, Institute of Molecular Biology (SAS), Bratislava, Slovakia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.