osteoprotegerin and Liver-Cirrhosis--Alcoholic

The mechanisms leading to osteoporosis in alcoholic liver disease remain poorly understood. Recently identified soluble circulating osteoprotegerin (OPG), is the osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor. It acts as a decoy receptor for osteoclast activating factor, receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL), and impairs osteoclast function. The aim of our study was to investigate the OPG/RANKL system in alcoholic cirrhotic patients and their correlation with biochemical marker of bone turnover.. Serum OPG, RANKL, osteocalcin (OC), C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I), bone alkaline phosphatase activity (bALP), and urinary hydroxyproline were measured in 30 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, and in 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.. OPG levels were significantly increased in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis compared with healthy subjects (5.9 pmol/l, range 2.7-9.0 vs 4.1 pmol/l, range 1.2-6.6; P < 0.001). RANKL levels were significantly higher in patients with cirrhosis (0.48 pmol/l, range 0.01-1.34) than in healthy subjects (0.11 pmol/l, range 0.01-0.90). There was a positive correlation between serum OPG and RANKL (r = 0.37; P < 0.001), bALP (r = 0.66; P < 0.001) and urinary hydroxyproline (r = 0.51; P < 0.05) but not with OC and CTX-I.. OPG might partly represent a compensating mechanism to the negative balance of bone remodelling in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers; Biopsy, Needle; Carrier Proteins; Case-Control Studies; Disease Progression; Female; Glycoproteins; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic; Liver Function Tests; Male; Membrane Glycoproteins; Middle Aged; Osteoprotegerin; Probability; Prognosis; RANK Ligand; Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor-kappa B; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; Reference Values; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severity of Illness Index