Clinical significance of Angiopoietin-1 in Behcet’s disease patients with vascular involvement

Factors associated with thrombosis in Behçet Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

Thrombosis is an important component of vascular involvement in Behçet syndrome (BS). Inflammation seems to be the main cause, while the contribution of factors associated with thrombosis is debated.

METHODS

We searched PubMed and EMBASE for studies that assessed factors associated with thrombosis in patients with BS. We separately analyzed studies that compared BS patients with thrombosis to BS patients without thrombosis and studies that compared BS patients with thrombosis to non-BS patients with thrombosis. The pooled odds ratios with 95%CI were calculated for binary outcomes and standardized mean differences were calculated for continuous outcomes.

RESULTS

A total of 87 factors were compared between BS patients with thrombosis and BS patients without thrombosis in 101 studies. Having a Factor V Leiden mutation increased the risk of thrombosis 2.58 times (95% CI 1.76 to 3.78) among patients with BS. Homocysteine levels and factor VIII levels were also significantly higher among BS patients with thrombosis. There were only 6 studies including 14 factors that compared BS patients with thrombosis to non-BS patients with thrombosis. The frequencies of JAK-2 mutation, activated protein C resistance, levels of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and activity of tPA were significantly higher among non-BS patients with thrombosis.

CONCLUSION

Prothrombotic factors do not seem to be the main driver of thrombosis in BS, but may pose an additional risk when present. Screening BS patients with thrombosis for common prothrombotic factors may be reasonable, especially in patients with unusual clinical and demographic features for vascular involvement of BS.

Finding the Needle in the Haystack: Serological and Urinary Biomarkers in Behçet's Disease: A Systematic Review

Urinary and serological markers play an essential role in the diagnostic process of autoimmune diseases. However, to date, specific and reliable biomarkers for diagnosing Behçet's disease (BD) are still lacking, negatively affecting the management of these patients. To analyze the currently available literature on serological and urinary BD biomarkers investigated in the last 25 years, we performed a systematic literature review using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes (PICO) strategy. One hundred eleven studies met the eligibility criteria (6301 BD patients, 5163 controls). Most of them were retrospective, while five (5%) were prospective. One hundred ten studies (99%) investigated serological biomarkers and only two (2%) focused on urinary biomarkers. One hundred three studies (93%) explored the diagnostic potential of the biomolecules, whereas sixty-two (56%) tested their effect on disease activity monitoring. Most articles reported an increase in inflammatory markers and pro-oxidant molecules, with a decrease in antioxidants. Promising results have been shown by the omics sciences, offering a more holistic approach. Despite the vast number of investigated markers, existing evidence indicates a persistent gap in BD diagnostic/prognostic indices. While new steps have been taken in the direction of pathogenesis and disease monitoring, international efforts for the search of a diagnostic marker for BD are still needed.

Retinal microvasculature features in patients with Behcet's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This meta-analysis aimed to analyze retinal microvasculature features in eyes with Behçet's disease (BD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library, were comprehensively searched for published studies comparing retinal microvasculature characteristics between eyes with BD and controls. Continuous variables were calculated using the mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Review Manager software (version 5.30) was used to conduct statistical analysis. A total of 13 eligible studies involving 599 eyes with BD and 622 control eyes were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that the macular whole enface superficial and deep vessel density (VD) values measured by OCTA were significantly lower in eyes with BD than in control eyes (superficial VD: MD = - 3.05, P < 0.00001; deep VD: MD = - 4.05, P = 0.0004). The foveal superficial and deep VD values were also significantly lower in the BD group than in the control group (superficial VD: MD = - 1.50, P = 0.009; deep VD: MD = - 4.25, -  = 0.03). Similarly, the analysis revealed a significant reduction in the parafoveal superficial and deep VD in eyes with BD than in control eyes (superficial VD: MD =  - 3.68, P < 0.00001; deep VD: MD = - 4.95, P = 0.0007). In addition, the superficial and deep foveal avascular zones (FAZs) were significantly larger in patients with BD than in controls (superficial FAZ: MD = 0.06, P = 0.02; deep FAZ: MD = 0.12, P = 0.03). The present meta-analysis found that macular whole enface VD, foveal VD, and parafoveal VD were lower in eyes with BD, and the FAZ was larger in patients with BD. The findings suggest that OCTA can assist clinicians in diagnosing and monitoring the status of patients with BD.

Recent advances in Extracellular Vesicles and their involvements in vasculitis

Systemic vasculitis is a heterogeneous group of multisystem autoimmune disorders characterized by inflammation of blood vessels. Although many progresses in diagnosis and immunotherapies have been achieved over the past decades, there are still many unanswered questions about vasculitis from pathological understanding to more advanced therapies. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are double-layer phospholipid membrane vesicles harboring various cargoes. EVs can be classified into exosomes, microvesicles (MVs), and apoptotic bodies depending on their size and origin of cellular compartment. EVs can be released by almost all cell types and may be involved in physical and pathological processes including inflammation and autoimmune responses. In systemic vasculitis, EVs may have pathogenic involvement in inflammation, autoimmune responses, thrombosis, endothelium injury, angiogenesis and intimal hyperplasia. EV-associated redox reaction may also be involved in vasculitis pathogenesis by inducing inflammation, endothelial injury and thrombosis. Additionally, EVs may serve as specific biomarkers for diagnosis or monitoring of disease activity and therapeutic efficacy, i.e. AAV-associated renal involvement. In this review, we have discussed the recent advances of EVs, especially their roles in pathogenesis and clinical involvements in vasculitis.

Endothelial Dysfunction and Inflammatory Markers of Vascular Disease

Vascular diseases are the main reason for morbidity and mortality worldwide. As we know, the earlier phase of vascular diseases is endothelial dysfunction in humans, the endothelial tissues play an important role in inflammation, coagulation, and angiogenesis, via organizing ligand-receptor associations and the various mediators' secretion. We can use many inflammatory non-invasive tests (flowmediated dilatation, epicedial fat thickness, carotid-intima media thickness, arterial stiffness and anklebrachial index) for assessing the endothelial function. In addition, many biomarkers (ischemia modified albumin, pentraxin-3, E-selectin, angiopoietin, endothelial cell specific molecule 1, asymmetrical dimethylarginine, von Willebrand factor, endothelial microparticles and endothelial progenitor cells) can be used to evaluate endothelial dysfunction. We have focused on the relationship between endothelial dysfunction and inflammatory markers of vascular disease in this review.

Immunopathogenesis of Behçet Disease

BACKGROUND

Behçet's Disease (BD, OMIM 109650) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disease of unknown etiology with unpredictable exacerbations and remissions. First described in 1937 by the Turkish dermatologist HulusiBehçet, as a trisympton complex (oral and genital ulcers and uveitis), it is now recognized as a multisystemic disease. The syndrome can manifest in diverse ways and can involve nearly every organ system. Several studies have implicated T cells and monocytes in the pathogenesis of BD especially when these cells are stimulated by heat shock proteins and streptococcal antigen. This article presents a review of the relevant published literature about the immunopathogenesis of BD.

RESULT

The authors used MeSH terms "Behçet's disease" with "pathophysiology," "pathogenesis," "genetic", "epigenetic", "immunogenetic" or "immune response" to search the PubMed database. All the relevant studies identified were included.