Lack of Correlation Between Pulmonary and Systemic Inflammation Markers in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Simultaneous, Two-Compartmental Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The origin of systemic inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients remains to be defined, but one of the most widely accepted hypothesis is the 'spill over' of inflammatory mediators from the lung to the circulation. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between pulmonary and systemic inflammation in COPD quantifying several inflammatory markers in sputum and serum determined simultaneously. METHODOLOGY: Correlations between various inflammatory variables (TNF-α, IL6, IL8) in sputum and serum were evaluated in 133 patients from the PAC-COPD cohort study. A secondary objective was the evaluation of relationships between inflammatory variables and lung function. RESULTS: Inflammatory markers were clearly higher in sputum than in serum. No significant correlation was found (absolute value, r=0.03-0.24) between inflammatory markers in blood and in sputum. There were no significant associations identified between those markers and lung function variables, such as FEV1, DLCO and PaO2 neither. CONCLUSIONS: We found no correlation between pulmonary and systemic inflammation in patients with stable COPD, suggesting different pathogenic mechanisms.Financiado en parte por: Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI020541, PI052082, PI052486, 11/02029, 14/00713,), Ministerio de Salud, España; Agència d’Avaluació de Tecnologia i Recerca Mèdiques (AATRM 035/20/02), Govern de Catalunya; Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica (SEPAR 2002/137, SEPAR 2013); Fundació Catalana de Pneumologia (FUCAP 2003 Beca Marià Ravà); Red RESPIRA (RTIC C03/11); Red RCESP (RTIC C03/09); Fundació La Marató de TV3 (num. 041110); DURSI (2005SGR00392); y una beca educativa de Novartis Farmacéutica, . CIBERESP y CIBERES están fundadas por el Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Salud, España. Direcció General d´Investigació i desenvolupament tecnològic de la Conselleria d´Innovació, Interior i Justícia de la Comunitat Autònoma de les Illes Balears and Fondos FEDER (Grupos competitivos (PRE-R-22528-2011)

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