Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2015; 21(14): 4293-4301
Published online Apr 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i14.4293
Arpin contributes to bacterial translocation and development of severe acute pancreatitis
Wen-Sheng Deng, Jian Zhang, Hui Ju, Hong-Mei Zheng, Jiang Wang, Su Wang, Dian-Liang Zhang
Wen-Sheng Deng, Jiang Wang, Hong-Mei Zheng, Dian-Liang Zhang, Center of Colon and Rectum, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266011, Shandong Province, China
Jian Zhang, Su Wang, Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266003, Shandong Province, China.
Hui Ju, Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266003, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang DL designed the study; Deng WS, Wang J and Wang S performed the research; Zhang J contributed new reagents and analytical tools; Deng WS analyzed the data; Deng WS wrote the paper; Ju H performed the endoscopy.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81270448 and No. 81470890.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dian-Liang Zhang, MD, PhD, Center of Colon and Rectum, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, No. 16 Jiangsu Road, Qingdao 266011, Shandong Province, China. phdzdl@yahoo.com
Telephone: +86-532-82852057 Fax: +86-532-82852058
Received: November 10, 2014
Peer-review started: November 12, 2014
First decision: December 11, 2014
Revised: January 11, 2015
Accepted: February 5, 2015
Article in press: February 5, 2015
Published online: April 14, 2015
Processing time: 155 Days and 12.5 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To assess the impact of Arpin protein and tight junction (TJ) proteins in the intestinal mucosa on bacterial translocation in patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).

METHODS: Fifty SAP patients were identified as study objects and then classified into two groups according to the presence of bacterial translocation (BT) in the blood [i.e., BT(+) and BT(-)]. Twenty healthy individuals were included in the control group. BT was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, colonic mucosal tissue was obtained by endoscopy and the expression of TJ proteins and Arpin protein was determined using immunofluorescence and western blotting.

RESULTS: Bacterial DNA was detected in the peripheral blood of 62.0% of patients (31/50) with SAP. The expression of TJ proteins in SAP patients was lower than that in healthy controls. In contrast, Arpin protein expression in SAP patients was higher than in healthy controls (0.38 ± 0.19 vs 0.28 ± 0.16, P < 0.05). Among SAP patients, those positive for BT showed a higher level of claudin-2 expression (0.64 ± 0.27 vs 0.32 ± 0.21, P < 0.05) and a lower level of occludin (OC) (0.61 ± 0.28 vs 0.73 ± 0.32, P < 0.05) and zonula occludens-1 (0.42 ± 0.26 vs 0.58 ± 0.17, P = 0.038) expression in comparison with BT (-) patients. Moreover, the level of Arpin expression in BT (+) patients was higher than in BT (-) patients (0.61 ± 0.28 vs 0.31 ± 0.24, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Arpin protein affects the expression of tight junction proteins and may have an impact on BT. These results contribute to a better understanding of the factors involved in bacterial translocation during acute pancreatitis.

Keywords: Severe acute pancreatitis; Arpin; Tight junction proteins; Bacterial translocation; Epithelium; Intestinal epithelial barrier

Core tip: Tight junctions (TJs) are the structural basis for the intestinal epithelial barrier. Increased intestinal permeability caused by variations in TJ proteins may result in bacterial translocation (BT) and there is evidence that BT may contribute to infection and sepsis. However, the detailed mechanisms for BT remain unknown. Recent work has identified an Arp2/3 interacting protein called Arpin, which was shown to restrict the rate of actin polymerization and control cell migration. Our research shows that Arpin protein affects the expression of TJ proteins and may have an impact on BT.