Publications

Abstract PURPOSE Elastin is a signature protein of lungs. Increased elastin turnover driven by altered proteolytic activity is an important part of lung tumorigenesis. Elastin-derived fragments have been shown to be pro-tumorigenic, however, little is known regarding the biomarker potential of such elastin fragments. Here, we present an elastin turnover profile by non-invasively quantifying five […]

Abstract Vastatin, a fragment derived from type VIII collagen, is one of the least studied collagen-derived matrikines. Vastatin can be detected in serum but little is known regarding the relevance of serum vastatin in colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, serum vastatin was measured (ELISA) in 67 healthy controls and 48 CRC patients prior to […]

Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although combined antiretroviral treatment (cART) has improved overall survival of HIV infected patients, liver fibrosis and liver related-mortality still constitute major challenges in HIV positive patients. Collagen accumulates in the liver during fibrogenesis. Recent studies showed that circulating levels of extracellular matrix (ECM) fragments might reflect degree of portal hypertension and […]

Abstract There is an increasing demand for accurate endotyping of patients according to their pathogenesis to allow more targeted treatment. We explore a combination of blood-based joint tissue metabolites (neoepitopes) to enable patient clustering through distinct disease profiles. We analysed data from two RA studies (LITHE (N = 574, follow-up 24 and 52 weeks), OSKIRA-1 […]

Abstract Blood levels of Glial Fibrillary Acidic protein (GFAP) reflect processes associated with different types of CNS injury. Evidence suggests that GFAP is cleaved by caspases during CNS injury, hence positioning GFAP fragments as potential biomarkers of injury-associated processes. We set out to develop an assay detecting the neo-epitope generated by caspase-6 cleavage of GFAP […]

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) derived extracellular matrix (ECM) biomarkers in non-radiographic (nr)-axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and radiographic (r)-axSpA after exercise intervention. Forty-six axSpA patients with stable disease and treatment underwent 24 weeks long exercise intervention. The clinical and laboratory assessments were performed at baseline […]

Abstract OBJECTIVE Atherosclerosis is characterized by accumulation of lipids, cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in the arterial wall. Collagen type I (COL1), a component of the arterial ECM, is cleaved by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and known to be remodelled in atherosclerosis. We explored whether the MMP-mediated COL1 biomarker, C1M, was associated with cardiovascular events, […]

Abstract There is a need for noninvasive biomarkers that can identify patients with progressive liver fibrosis and monitor response to antifibrotic therapy. An equally important need is identification of patients with spontaneous fibrosis regression, since they may not need treatment nor be included in clinical studies with fibrosis as end point. Circulating biomarkers, originating from […]

Abstract BACKGROUND Excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and a reactive stroma can affect T-cell infiltration and T-cell activity in the tumor and hereby influence response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). In the pursuit of finding biomarkers that predict treatment response, we evaluated the association between serum biomarkers of collagen and vimentin turnover and outcomes in […]

Abstract Increased extracellular matrix (ECM) formation and matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-mediated ECM degradation are parts of tumorgenesis and generates collagen fragments that are released into circulation. We evaluated the association of specific collagen fragments measured in serum with outcomes in two independent metastatic breast cancer (MBC) cohorts. ELISAs were used to measure C1M (MMP-generated type I […]