Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 6:02 pm
Cheer, I just got chills reading your reply and thinking about the idea that the vascular system could be the organ linking autoimmunity -- genetic or acquired.
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bluesky63 wrote:Cheer, I just got chills reading your reply and thinking about the idea that the vascular system could be the organ linking autoimmunity -- genetic or acquired.
Endothelin 1 (ET-1) isn't a typical blood test, astro...and I have a hard time imagining your neuro would test it. Jeff's SED rate, CrP level and liver enzymes were all high when his blood was taken during his first flare, before any steroids or intervention. All of these tests show inflammation and endothelial dysfunction and are in a regular blood panel. He also had a petechial rash and mild jaundice. None of this is "normal" in MS, but his neuro said he must have been drinking. He doesn't drink...so she rolled her eyes, and sent us on our way with the DMD literature. That's why I started looking at the vascular connection.astro wrote:Great discussion. I'm heading to my neuro check-up next week, and he'll probably order some bloodwork. What test(s) should I suggest he add to get more insight into Collagen/Endothelin angle?
Thanks much.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11315981OBJECTIVE: We tested the hypothesis that the plasma level of endothelin-1 (ET-1) is increased in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The peptide ET-1 is one of the most potent known vasoconstrictors. An increased level of endothelin could explain some of the vascular symptoms of these patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A specific radioimmunoassay was used to determine ET-1 plasma levels. Twenty patients with MS were compared to 20 age- and sex-pair-matched healthy subjects.
RESULTS: The plasma ET-1 levels were, on average, 224% higher in the patients with MS than in the controls (p < 0.005). The mean ET-1 levels (mean +/- standard deviation [SD]) were 3.5 +/- 0.83 pg/mL (min 2.13, max 5.37 pg/mL) in patients with MS and 1.56 +/- 0.3 pg/mL (min 0.9, max 2.13 pg/mL) in healthy volunteers. Neither the different forms nor stages of MS had an influence on the results. The ET-1 level was also not correlated with the duration of the disease.
CONCLUSIONS: The plasma ET-1 level is markedly and significantly increased in patients with MS. Neither the cause of such an increase nor the pathogenetic role is known.
It's on the endothelial dysfunction thread, PC...an oldie, but goodiePCakes wrote:Dear Joan,
Please post your 'endothelial dysfunction home game' over here on TiMS.. good reminders c/w a smile. Win win.
Thanks,
pCakes
I upload images to www.photobucket.com click 'go to album,' click 'img code,' and that automatically copies the image code for the picture, then I paste here.I tried to copy and paste one of the ppt slides into this, but wasn't able to.