Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.3.1 (alkaline phosphatase)
 47,916 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pulmonary calcification and ossification occurs with a number of systemic and pulmonary conditions. Specific symptoms are often lacking, but calcification may be a marker of disease severity and its chronicity. Pathophysiologic states predisposing to pulmonary calcification and ossification include hypercalcemia, a local alkaline environment, and previous lung injury. Factors such as enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity, active angiogenesis, and mitogenic effects of growth factors may also contribute. The clinical classification of pulmonary calcification includes both metastatic calcification, in which calcium deposits in previously normal lung or dystrophic calcification, which occurs in previously injured lung. Pulmonary ossification can be idiopathic or can result from a variety of underlying pulmonary, cardiac, or extracardiopulmonary disorders. The diagnosis of pulmonary calcification and ossification requires various imaging techniques, including chest radiography, computed tomographic scanning, and bone scintigraphy. Interpretation of the presence of and the specific pattern of calcification or ossification may obviate the need for invasive biopsy. In this review, specific conditions causing pulmonary calcification or ossification that may impact diagnostic and treatment decisions are highlighted. These include metastatic calcification caused by chronic renal failure and orthotopic liver transplantation, dystrophic calcification caused by granulomatous disorders, DNA viruses, parasitic infections, pulmonary amyloidosis, vascular calcification, the idiopathic disorder pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis, and various forms of pulmonary ossification.
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PMID:Calcium deposition with or without bone formation in the lung. 1207 68

Pulmonary ossification syndrome is a rare disease characterized by bone tissue formation in the lung parenchyma with or without bone marrow elements. This disorder, often under-recognized, can be idiopathic or secondary to an underlying chronic disorder such as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. The pathogenesis involves tissue injury and an alkaline environment in which the precipitation of calcium salts enables alkaline phosphatase activity. This activates profibrogenic cytokines that convert fibroblasts into osteoblasts. Diagnosis can prove challenging and is based on clinical, radiographic and functional tests, and by tissue biopsy. Achieving an accurate and timely diagnosis is essential to avoid erroneous treatments due to misdiagnosis and to expand knowledge of its progression, prognosis and treatment. As the population and prevalence of chronic lung disease increases, it is likely that physicians will encounter more cases of pulmonary ossification.
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PMID:Pulmonary ossification syndrome in a patient with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. 2452 8