Rovina Nikoletta, Papapetropoulos Andreas, Kollintza Androniki, Michailidou Makrina, Simoes Davina C M, Roussos Charis, Gratziou Christina
Asthma and Allergy Center, Pulmonary and Critical Care Department, Evgenidion Hospital, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece.
Respir Res. 2007 Jul 15;8(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1465-9921-8-53.
Patients with bronchitis type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have raised vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in induced sputum. This has been associated with the pathogenesis of COPD through apoptotic and oxidative stress mechanisms. Since, chronic airway inflammation is an important pathological feature of COPD mainly initiated by cigarette smoking, aim of this study was to assess smoking as a potential cause of raised airway VEGF levels in bronchitis type COPD and to test the association between VEGF levels in induced sputum and airway inflammation in these patients.
14 current smokers with bronchitis type COPD, 17 asymptomatic current smokers with normal spirometry and 16 non-smokers were included in the study. VEGF, IL-8, and TNF-alpha levels in induced sputum were measured and the correlations between these markers, as well as between VEGF levels and pulmonary function were assessed.
The median concentrations of VEGF, IL-8, and TNF-alpha were significantly higher in induced sputum of COPD patients (1,070 pg/ml, 5.6 ng/ml and 50 pg/ml, respectively) compared to nonsmokers (260 pg/ml, 0.73 ng/ml, and 15.4 pg/ml, respectively, p < 0.05) and asymptomatic smokers (421 pg/ml, 1.27 ng/ml, p < 0.05, and 18.6 pg/ml, p > 0.05, respectively). Significant correlations were found between VEGF levels and pack years (r = 0.56, p = 0.046), IL-8 (r = 0.64, p = 0.026) and TNF-alpha (r = 0.62, p = 0.031) levels both in asymptomatic and COPD smokers (r = 0.66, p = 0.027, r = 0.67, p = 0.023, and r = 0.82, p = 0.002, respectively). No correlation was found between VEGF levels in sputum and pulmonary function parameters.
VEGF levels are raised in the airways of both asymptomatic and COPD smokers. The close correlation observed between VEGF levels in the airways and markers of airway inflammation in healthy smokers and in smokers with bronchitis type of COPD is suggestive of VEGF as a marker reflecting the inflammatory process that occurs in smoking subjects without alveolar destruction.
慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）支气管炎型患者诱导痰中血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）水平升高。这已通过凋亡和氧化应激机制与COPD的发病机制相关联。由于慢性气道炎症是COPD的一个重要病理特征，主要由吸烟引发，本研究的目的是评估吸烟作为COPD支气管炎型患者气道VEGF水平升高的潜在原因，并测试这些患者诱导痰中VEGF水平与气道炎症之间的关联。
本研究纳入了14名患有支气管炎型COPD的现吸烟者、17名肺活量测定正常的无症状现吸烟者和16名非吸烟者。测量诱导痰中VEGF、IL-8和TNF-α水平，并评估这些标志物之间以及VEGF水平与肺功能之间的相关性。
与非吸烟者（分别为260 pg/ml、0.73 ng/ml和15.4 pg/ml）和无症状吸烟者（分别为421 pg/ml、1.27 ng/ml，p<0.05，和18.6 pg/ml，p>0.05）相比，COPD患者诱导痰中VEGF、IL-8和TNF-α的中位浓度显著更高（分别为1070 pg/ml、5.6 ng/ml和50 pg/ml，p<0.05）。在无症状吸烟者和COPD吸烟者中，VEGF水平与吸烟包年数（r = 0.56，p = 0.046）、IL-8（r = 0.64，p = 0.026）和TNF-α（r = 0.62，p = 0.031）水平之间均存在显著相关性（分别为r = 0.66，p = 0.027、r = 0.67，p = 0.023和r = 0.82，p = 0.002）。痰中VEGF水平与肺功能参数之间未发现相关性。
无症状吸烟者和COPD吸烟者气道中的VEGF水平均升高。在健康吸烟者和患有支气管炎型COPD的吸烟者中，气道VEGF水平与气道炎症标志物之间观察到的密切相关性表明，VEGF是反映吸烟但无肺泡破坏的受试者中发生的炎症过程的一个标志物。
