Increased plasma soluble major histocompatibility complex class I polypeptide-related sequence A/B (sMICA/B) and related biomarkers in patients with pancreatitis

Plasma soluble MHC class I chain-related gene (sMIC) A/B, sTAMRs (sTyro3, sAxl, and sMer), Gas6 and free-PROS1, ADAM 10/17, sFas, and severity markers (APACHE-II and SOFA) were measured in 55 cases (severe 14 and mild 41) of acute pancreatitis (AP), 20 cases of chronic pancreatitis (CP), and 20 cases of normal control (NC).
Methods: These markers were measured by ELISA-kit.
Results: sMICA/B, ADAM10/17, sFas, sTAMRs and both ligands were significantly higher in the pancreatitis group than in the NC. The non-survival SAP group showed the highest levels for these markers, and the peaks of sMICA/B levels were seen at the onset of disease in many cases and they damped. However, sMICA/B values in the non-survival SAP group showed another peak at onset and 14-30 days after onset.
The correlations between these markers among groups showed significant good correlations except for the non-survival SAP and CP groups. 
Regarding the correlations between sMICA/B and APACHE-Ⅱin the non-survival SAP and CP group were inconsistent, whereas significant correlations were observed in other pancreatitis groups. The correlations between APACHE-II, and Gas6 and free-PROS1 showed significant correlation with most of the groups, whereas free-PROS1 showed significant correlations with the severe group.
Conclusions: The higher the sMICA/B value, the higher the severity of the disease. In addition, non-survival SAP and CP suggested impaired efferocytosis. Furthermore, while Gas6 acts regardless of the symptoms of pancreatitis, free-PROS1 seems to act mainly in severe cases.