Acute pancreatitis (AP) manifests itself either as a mild, self-limiting
inflammation or a severe, systemic inflammatory process that is associated with various complications and a high mortality rate. It is unknown whether these two forms of the disease can differ in the profile of circulating
glycosaminoglycans, which are molecules with huge
biological reactivity due to a high density of negative electric charge. Plasma
glycosaminoglycans were characterized/quantified in 23 healthy controls, 32 patients with mild AP, and 15 individuals with severe disease using electrophoresis with enzymatic identification (
chondroitin sulfate and
heparan sulfate) or an ELISA-based test (
hyaluronan). Moreover, the correlations between the
glycosaminoglycan levels and clinical parameters were evaluated. Both forms of AP showed similar remodeling of the plasma profile of the sulfated
glycosaminoglycans. In contrast, only in the patients with mild AP was the level of circulating
hyaluronan significantly decreased as compared to the healthy controls. Both forms of AP are associated with systemic changes in the metabolism of
glycosaminoglycans. However, the alterations in
hyaluronan metabolism may contribute to the disease evolution. The circulating
hyaluronan may have some clinical value to predict the severity of AP and to evaluate the clinical status of patients with severe AP.