title: A comparison of serum and sputum inflammatory mediator profiles in patients with asthma and COPD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate serum and sputum cytokine profiles in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical characteristics, blood and sputum samples were collected from asthma (n = 37) and COPD (n = 36) patients, and healthy subjects (n  = 39). Cytokines were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and inflammation antibody array; levels were analysed according to smoking status and presence of eosinophilia in the airways of COPD/asthma patients, and compared with those in healthy subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ELISA revealed  a significant difference in the expression of only a few cytokines in the COPD versus asthma groups, and in both patient groups compared with healthy subjects. The antibody array showed greater differentiation in inflammatory mediators. In the subphenotype analysis, the differential expression  of cytokines was more significant between eosinophilic and noneosinophilic airway inflammation than between asthma and COPD, according to both the ELISA and antibody array. There was little difference in cytokine expression between smoking and nonsmoking subgroups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differential  expression of inflammatory mediators is present between patients with COPD or asthma, and eosinophilic or noneosinophilic airway inflammation, and contributes to understanding the cytokine network of airway inflammation.
authors: Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Cao
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Gong
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Liu
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Li
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Wu
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Duan
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Dong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013183:Sputum / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D018836:Inflammation Mediators