TY - JOUR T1 - Simultaneous measurement of collagen type-VI-related antigen and procollagen type-III-N-propeptide levels in bronchoalveolar lavage JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1221 LP - 1226 DO - 10.1183/09031936.94.07071221 VL - 7 IS - 7 AU - T Schaberg AU - K Orzechowski AU - C Oesterling AU - H Lode AU - D Schuppan Y1 - 1994/07/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/7/7/1221.abstract N2 - Abnormal collagen metabolism is a hallmark of diffuse lung disease. Biochemical parameters which are correlated with collagen synthesis and degradation may be helpful to monitor fibrosis. In this study, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of procollagen type-III-N-propeptide (PIIINP) and collagen type-VI (C-VI) related antigen levels, as well as a ratio of both parameters (PIIINP/C-VI), in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from patients with diffuse and localized lung disease. We investigated 45 patients with diffuse lung disease (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), n = 21; sarcoidosis, n = 13; and lymphangitic carcinomatosis (LC), n = 11); 58 control subjects; and 92 patients with localized lung disease (bronchial carcinoma, n = 37; pulmonary tuberculosis, n = 31; and pneumonia, n = 24). C-VI and PIIINP were measured by immunoassay in concentrated BALF. Although the PIIINP and C-VI levels were increased in diffuse lung disease, the sensitivity of the individual parameters PIIINP and C-VI was low (IPF: PIIINP = 0.62, C-VI = 0.29; LC: PIIINP = 0.64, C-VI = 0.45; sarcoidosis: PIIINP = 0.69, C-VI = 0.15). When calculating the ratio of PIIINP/C-VI for each individual patient, we found a significant increase in this ratio in IPF (1.28 +/- 0.7), LC (2.34 +/- 1.2), and sarcoidosis (0.26 +/- 0.08) compared to both the controls (0.02 +/- 0.01) and other localized lung diseases (bronchial carcinoma 0.05 +/- 0.01; pulmonary tuberculosis 0.02 +/- 0.01), with the exception of pneumonia (0.18 +/- 0.06).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) ER -