{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T23:17:44Z","timestamp":1787872664700,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,31]],"date-time":"2025-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756598400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan","award":["AR19676870"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AR19676870"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Chronic lung diseases act as multi-organ conditions in which systemic inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and fibrosis intersect. The pulmo-renal continuum\u2014functional crosstalk between lungs and kidneys\u2014remains poorly characterized. We compared year-long changes in endothelin-1 (ET-1), galectin-3 (Gal-3), renal indices (eGFR, ACR), and quantitative CT densitometry in COPD and systemic sclerosis-associated ILD (SSc-ILD). Materials and Methods: In this prospective observational study (January 2023\u2013December 2024), 112 patients were consecutively enrolled (COPD, n = 58; SSc-ILD, n = 54). Assessments were performed at baseline and 12 months. ET-1 (ELISA) and Gal-3 (chemiluminescence) were measured in serum; eGFR was calculated by the creatinine-based CKD-EPI (2021) equation; ACR was photometric. High-resolution chest CT provided lung volume and parenchymal density (Hounsfield units) at six predefined axial levels per lung. Non-parametric statistics were applied: Wilcoxon signed-rank (within-group), Mann\u2013Whitney U (between-group), and Spearman rank correlations for associations; results are reported with p-values (and 95% CIs). Results: Baseline eGFR was normal (COPD 90.37; SSc-ILD 92.4 mL\/min\/1.73 m2). eGFR declined by 6.76% in COPD (p = 0.001) and 3.16% in SSc-ILD (p = 0.029). ET-1 increased in both cohorts but more in COPD (+83.78%, p = 0.0002) than in SSc-ILD (+23.83%, p = 0.0001). Gal-3 rose significantly only in SSc-ILD (+10.2%, p = 0.043). FVC decreased in COPD (\u22124.01%, p = 0.01) and was unchanged in SSc-ILD. Total lung volume declined in SSc-ILD (\u22126.08%, p = 0.02) but not in COPD. CT density shifts were small: several slices in COPD and one slice (L6) in SSc-ILD reached statistical but not biological relevance. Conclusions: COPD exhibited larger vascular and renal biomarker shifts (ET-1 up, eGFR down, ACR up), suggesting systemic inflammation and early renal involvement. In SSc-ILD, biomarker and CT changes predominantly reflected pulmonary fibrosis progression with limited renal impact. Integrating biomarkers with quantitative CT may help delineate organ-specific trajectories along the pulmo-renal continuum; longer, larger studies are warranted. Limitations: This was a single-center cohort with a modest sample (58 COPD and 54 SSc-ILD) and a 12-month, two-time-point follow-up, which may not capture long-term trajectories and may limit it generalizability; larger multicenter studies with an extended follow-up are warranted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina61091572","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,1]],"date-time":"2025-09-01T08:28:15Z","timestamp":1756715295000},"page":"1572","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Assessing Fibrosis Progression and Endothelial Dysfunction in SSc-ILD and COPD: An Integrated Biomarker and CT Densitometry Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"61","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9917-0258","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lyazat","family":"Ibrayeva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Karaganda Medical University, Karaganda 100012, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5576-8637","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Irina","family":"Bacheva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Karaganda Medical University, Karaganda 100012, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3229-1506","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Assel","family":"Alina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Karaganda Medical University, Karaganda 100012, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9267-2968","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olga","family":"Klassen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Karaganda Medical University, Karaganda 100012, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2433","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jacc.2015.04.024","article-title":"Cardio-pulmonary-renal interactions","volume":"65","author":"McCullough","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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