OBJECTIVE To evaluate the synovial expression of osteopontin (OPN) and its possible correlation with the degree of synovial angiogenesis in human chronic idiopathic arthritis. METHODS Forty-five patients with active juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) were studied. All patients underwent SF aspiration before steroid injection. A paired plasma sample was collected from 22 JIA patients. Plasma ...

Increasing evidence indicates that macrophages in tumor stroma can significantly modify the malignant phenotypes of tumors. Osteopontin (OPN) is frequently overexpressed in cancers with high metastatic capacity and, thus, has been considered as a potential therapeutic target. To find out whether macrophages can affect the outcome of OPNknockdown tumor cells, we used RNA interference (RNAi) to s...

BACKGROUND Osteopontin represents a multifunctional molecule playing a pivotal role in chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Its expression is increased in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of our study was to analyze the association of osteopontin (OPN/SPP1) gene variants in a large cohort of IBD patients. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Genomic DNA from 2819 Caucasian individ...

BACKGROUND Most studies have found that osteopontin (OPN) expression level is related to the poor prognosis of gastric cancer. However, few studies have examined the relationship between OPN expression and gastric precancerous diseases, and the potential role of OPN in the formation and development of GC. We investigated the relationships between serum OPN levels and the risks of gastric cancer...

The initial process in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy involves the recruitment of immune cells and the release of cytokines. Osteopontin (OPN), a pro-inflammatory protein, plays critical roles in immune cell activation and migration. Although OPN has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many liver diseases, the role of OPN in liver regeneration remains obscure. In the present st...

With Restenosis After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention To the Editor: High levels of osteopontin (OPN) mRNA and proteins were reported in atherosclerotic plaques.1,2 Recently, we reported plasma OPN levels to be high in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and to correlate with the severity of CAD.3 However, no association between plasma OPN levels and restenosis after percutaneous cor...

INTRODUCTION: While osteoarthritis (OA) is generally assessed using standard radiographic images in clinical practices, biochemical markers can be employed to detect the disease and determine the severity. For monitoring of progression of OA, no marker has yet gained unrestricted acceptance in the clinical routine. Osteopontin (OPN), an extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein, is a potential in...

Embryo implantation into the maternal uterus is a decisive step for successful mammalian pregnancy. Osteopontin (OPN) is a member of the small integrin-binding ligand N-linked glycoprotein family and participates in cell adhesion and invasion. In this study, we showed that Opn mRNA levels are up-regulated in the mouse uterus on day 4 and at the implantation sites on days 5 and 8 of pregnancy. I...

OBJECTIVE Osteopontin (OPN) is a highly phosphorylated extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is involved in a diversity of biological processes. In the vascular wall, OPN is produced by monocytes/macrophages, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells, and it is thought to mediate adhesion, migration, and survival of these cell types. In this study, we hypothesized that OPN plays a critical ro...

The interaction of osteopontin (OPN) with CD44 and alphavbeta3-integrin has been implicated in numerous signal transduction pathways that may promote cancer metastasis. CD44v6 is a splice variant of CD44 which has been identified as a marker of cancer progression. In this study, immortalized liver carcinoma cells (HepG2) were used to examine the effect of OPN on two isoforms of CD44: CD44 stand...