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Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background/aim: Emerging evidence suggests that dysregulated angiogenesis may contribute to the pathogenesis of Behçet’s disease (BD). This study primarily aimed to investigate serum angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) levels in Turkish patients with BD and compare them with healthy controls. The secondary aims were to compare angiopoietin levels based on clinical manifestations, disease activity, and medication use and to investigate their correlations with age, disease duration, and inflammatory markers.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study included 56 consecutive patients with BD, diagnosed according to International Study Group criteria, and 56 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Physical characteristics, clinical manifestations, time since symptom onset, time since diagnosis, medications, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were recorded. Serum Ang-1 and Ang-2 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Comparisons between the two groups were analyzed using the Student t-test or Mann–Whitney U test, and correlations were assessed using Pearson or Spearman correlation coefficients, depending on the data distribution.

Results: Serum Ang-1 and Ang-2 levels were significantly higher in patients with BD compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.031, respectively). Patients with genital ulcers had significantly lower serum Ang-1 levels compared to those without (p = 0.029). Additionally, Ang-2 levels showed moderate positive correlations with CRP (r = 0.518, p < 0.001) and ESR (r = 0.459, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The elevated expression of Ang-1 and Ang-2 in Turkish patients with BD supports the growing evidence of their possible roles in BD pathogenesis.

Author ORCID Identifier

SERCAN GÜCENMEZ: 0000-0001-7785-4061

HAKAN EMMUNGİL: 0000-0001-5184-4404

FİGEN YARGUCU ZİHNİ: 0000-0001-7479-3582

GÖKHAN KESER: 0000-0001-7289-1816

KENAN AKSU: 0000-0001-8889-2688

DOI

10.55730/1300-0144.6200

Keywords

Angiogenesis, Behçet's disease, vasculitis

First Page

667

Last Page

673

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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