title: Inflammatory cells and mediators in bronchial lavage of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
abstract: Cigarette smoking is the most important cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although the precise sequence of events that leads a smoker to experience airway obstruction is not completely clear, airway inflammation is a relevant factor. To investigate airway inflammation, 12 nonatopic smoking COPD patients with a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) < or = 75% predicted and 10 normal nonsmoking subjects (NS) were studied with bronchoscopy and bronchial lavage (BL). Serum immunoglobulin (Ig)E levels of COPD patients correlated with the smoking history (r=0.7, p=0.008). In BL of COPD patients there was an increase of neutrophils (median, range) (COPD 62.6x10(3), 1.2-323, NS 1.35, 0-19.2, p=0.001), eosinophils (COPD 1.6, 0-6.9, NS 0.15, 0-3.7, p=0.035), the levels of interleukin (IL)-8 (COPD 1079 pg x mL(-1), 121-2,500, NS 20.4, 7.2-59, p=0.001), myeloperoxidase (MPO) (COPD 752 microg x L(-1), 11-5,500, NS 22.1, 8-70, p=0.001) and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) (COPD 21.5 microg x L(-1), 1.8-161, NS 2, 1.8-4.9, p=0.001). Significant correlations were found in BL of COPD patients between IL-8 and neutrophils (p=0.02), MPO and neutrophils (p=0.02), IL-8 and MPO (p=0.0001) and ECP and eosinophils (p=0.02). In addition, the ratios between the BL levels of MPO and the number of neutrophils and between ECP levels and eosinophils were higher in COPD patients than in NS (p=0.03 and 0.01, respectively). These data suggest that cigarette smoke is associated with increased amounts of airway interleukin-8, a chemotactic factor for neutrophils and eosinophils. Recruited neutrophils and eosinophils are activated and they release increased amounts of inflammatory mediators capable of damaging the bronchial tissue.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Respiratory Diseases, University of Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pesci
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Balbi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Majori
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cacciani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertacco
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alciato
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Donner
mesh_terms: D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology*; D004804:Eosinophils; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000032:analysis*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000032:analysis; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009504:Neutrophils; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D016209:Interleukin-8