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Blood, 1 September 2008, Vol. 112, No. 5, pp. 1620-1627. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on June 12, 2008; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-02-137455. This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: blood-2008-02-137455v1 112/5/1620    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sansonno, D. Articles by Dammacco, F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sansonno, D. Articles by Dammacco, F. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Next Article  Submitted February 5, 2008 Accepted May 3, 2008 Increased serum levels of the chemokine CXCL13 and upregulation of its gene expression are distinctive features of HCV-related cryoglobulinemia and correlate with active cutaneous vasculitis Domenico Sansonno*, Felicia Anna Tucci, Laura Troiani, Gianfranco Lauletta, Michele Montrone, Vincenza Conteduca, Loredana Sansonno, and Franco Dammacco Internal Medicine and Clinical Oncology, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy * Corresponding author; email: d.sansonno{at}dimo.uniba.it. Chemokine CXCL13, also known as BCA-1 (B-cell attracting chemokine-1) or BLC (B-lymphocyte chemoattractant), is a major regulator of B cell trafficking. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may be associated with B cell dysfunction and lymphoproliferative disorders, including mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). This study evaluates circulating levels of CXCL13 protein and specific mRNA expression in chronically HCV-infected patients with and without MC. Compared with healthy controls and HCV-infected patients without MC, CXCL13 serum levels were significantly higher in MC patients. The highest CXCL13 levels strongly correlated with active cutaneous vasculitis. CXCL13 gene expression in portal tracts, isolated from liver biopsy tissues with laser capture microdissection, showed enhanced levels of specific mRNA in MC patients with active cutaneous vasculitis. Specific CXCL13 gene mRNA expression was also up-regulated in skin tissue of these patients. These findings paralleled specific deposits of CXCL13 protein both in the liver and in the skin. Our results indicate that up-regulation of CXCL13 gene expression is a distinctive feature of HCV-infected patients. Higher levels of this chemokine in the liver as well as in the skin of patients with active MC vasculitis suggest a possible interrelation between these biologic compartments. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this? This article has been cited by other articles: L. Schiffer, P. Kumpers, Ana. M. Davalos-Misslitz, M. Haubitz, H. Haller, H.-J. Anders, T. Witte, and M. Schiffer B-cell-attracting chemokine CXCL13 as a marker of disease activity and renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., December 1, 2009; 24(12): 3708 - 3712. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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