title: Bone marrow-derived progenitors are greatly reduced in patients with severe COPD and low-BMI.
abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients have reduced circulating hemopoietic progenitors. We hypothesized that severity of COPD parallels the decrease in progenitors and that the reduction in body mass index (BMI) could be associated with more severe bone marrow dysfunction. We studied 39 patients with moderate to very severe COPD (18 with low-BMI and 21 with normal-BMI) and 12 controls. Disease severity was associated to a greater reduction in circulating progenitors. Proangiogenetic and inflammatory markers correlated with disease severity parameters. Compared to normal-BMI patients, low-BMI patients showed: greater reduction in circulating progenitors; higher VEGF-A, VEGF-C, HGF, Ang-2, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and MCP-1 levels. Furthermore, among patients with similar pulmonary impairment, those who displayed low-BMI had a more markedly reduced number of CD34(+) cells and late endothelial progenitors. We show that the reduction in hematopoietic and endothelial progenitor cells correlates with COPD severity. Our findings also indicate that, in severe low-BMI COPD patients, bone marrow function seems to be further impaired and may lead to reduced reparative capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huertas
authors.forename: Ugo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riccioni
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petrucci
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Riti
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Savi
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bonsignore
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palange
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D001772:Blood Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay / Q000379:methods; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000502:physiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D016207:Cytokines; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases; D003402:Creatine Kinase