Impaires Anticoagulant Activity of Protein C and Activation of Neutrophils in Extensive Lung Cancer
| Autor: | Rudiger Pfab, Michael Kraus, Rainer Scitz, Rudolf Egbring, Anette Immel, Martin Wolf, M. Maasberg, Nicole Rappe, Klaus Havemann, Hans-Heinrich Heidtmann |
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| Rok vydání: | 1995 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis. 1:131-134 |
| ISSN: | 1938-2723 1076-0296 |
| Popis: | Lung cancer is associated with an increased incidence of thrombosis. An activation of coagulation is demonstrable in lung cancer patients by sensitive activation markers, as well as a stimulation of neutrophil granulocytes, which are known to interfere with hemostasis, e.g., by degrading inhibitory proteins. We assessed antigen level, amidolytic activity, and clotting activity of the plasma anticoagulant protein C and the activation markers thrombin-antithrobin complex (TAT) and neutrophil elastase-α1-antitrypsin complex (EAT) in 67 lung cancer patients before antineoplastic treatment was begun. The protein C clotting activity was lower (p = 0.010) in the patients with extensive than in those with limited disease. However, the median levels remained within the normal range in both groups (91 vs. 108% of normal). The median amidolytic activity levels (110 vs. 117% of normal ; NS) were higher than the protein C antigen levels (82 vs. 77% of normal; NS) in- both groups. There was no significant correlation of protein C measurements with TAT levels, but there were significant negative correlations between EAT and protein C clotting activity and antigen level. The data suggest that in patients with lung cancer, there may be an alteration of the protein C molecule, which reduces antigen level and impairs clotting activity without affecting amidolytic activity. The negative correlation with EAT levels might point to limited degradation of protein C by neutrophil enzymes, leading to partial loss of epitopes detected by the immunologic determination and of structures necessary for the biologic effect of protein C upon clotting time. Further studies should clarify whether such a modification of protein C could contribute to the increased incidence of thrombosis in lung cancer patients. Key Words: Lung cancer-Neutrophil elastase-Protein C. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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