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Letter
Circulating soluble CD40 ligand in patients with eosinophilic fasciitis
  1. M Jinnin,
  2. H Ihn,
  3. N Yazawa,
  4. Y Asano,
  5. K Yamane,
  6. K Tamaki
  1. Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan
  1. Correspondence to:
    Dr H Ihn;
    IN-DER{at}h.u-tokyo.ac.jp

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.62.2.190

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    Recently, some reports showed the increased expression of CD40 ligand in autoimmune diseases. CD40 ligand can be expressed in a soluble form.1,2 Soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) is present in supernatants of in vitro activated T cells in 15 kDa and 18 kDa forms, and these forms are the products of enzymatic cleavage at a metalloproteinase sensitive site in the membrane proximal region of the extracellular domain of the molecule.1 Their abnormalities have been demonstrated in various kinds of diseases such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia2 or systemic lupus erythematosus.1 But, there has been no report demonstrating the serum levels of sCD40L in patients with eosinophilic fasciitis (EF). In this study we determined the serum levels of sCD40L in patients with EF, and investigated their clinical significance in this disease, in order to evaluate whether sCD40L might be a useful marker for this disease.

    METHODS AND RESULTS

    Eleven patients (disease duration 1–8 months) with a classic clinical picture of EF, who had received no treatment, were included in this study. All the patients had a recent history of increased skin induration. Skin biopsies including deep subcutaneous tissue and fascia showed markedly indurated and thickened …

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