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Summary Churg–Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a rare form of systemic vasculitis occurring in patients with asthma and hypereosinophilia; however, its mechanisms involved in the severe tissue inflammation with vasculitis are poorly understood. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein, originally identified as a DNA binding protein, also has potent pro-inflammatory and proangiogenic properties. In this study, we hypothesized that HMGB1 might be associated with CSS, and examined serum HMGB1 levels and compared those of asthma patients and healthy volunteers. We also investigated HMGB1 expression in the lesion, and eosinophil HMGB1 amount in CSS patients. We found that the serum HMGB1 levels in CSS patients were significantly higher than those of asthma patients and healthy volunteers. Eosinophils in the CSS lesion expressed HMGB1 and HMGB1 level in eosinophils from CSS patients was significantly higher than that of asthma patients, while there was no significant difference in HMGB1 levels in peripheral mononuclear cells. The serum HMGB1 level in CSS patients decreased after the steroid therapy, and showed significant positive correlations with several molecules, including soluble interleukin-2 receptor, soluble thrombomodulin, and eosinophil cationic protein in sera. We propose that HMGB1 might contribute to the pathogenesis of CSS.

SummaryPulmonary tuberculosis, a granulomatous disease, has few serological markers for its activity. Recently, an increased plasma level of stromal derived factor 1 alpha (SDF-1α), which can induce strong chemotaxis of cells through its receptor CXCR4, was detected in patients with tuberculosis. In this study we investigated serum SDF-1α levels and CXCR4 expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Fifty-five active tuberculosis patients, 30 resolved tuberculosis patients, 27 acute bronchitis patients and 8 healthy volunteers were examined. Histological expression of SDF-1α in the tuberculosis lesion and CXCR4 expression of PBMCs were also analysed. Serum SDF-1α levels in active tuberculosis patients were significantly higher than other groups. The sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis was 88·5% and 85·3% (cutoff value = 650 pg/ml), respectively. CXCR4 expression levels on PBMCs showed a significant negative correlation with serum SDF-1α levels. Inflammatory cells including multinuclear giant cells in the lesion expressed SDF-1α. Measurement of serum SDF-1α could be a useful screening marker for the identification of active pulmonary tuberuculosis. We propose that interaction of SDF-1α and CXCR4 might be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis.