School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Chest. 2010 Mar;137(3):635-41. doi: 10.1378/chest.09-1047. Epub 2009 Oct 3.
Induced sputum cytology and protein biomarkers can be used to assess airways inflammation. Increases in sputum iron have been described in inflammatory lung disease. We hypothesized that other sputum metals may be affected by airways inflammation and investigated their potential value as biomarkers.
Sputum was obtained from 20 healthy control subjects and from patients with inflammatory pulmonary diseases (23 with cystic fibrosis [CF], 16 with bronchiectasis, 17 with asthma, and 23 with COPD), and iron, zinc, manganese, and copper were measured. Fourteen patients with CF were also studied through an exacerbation cycle.
Sputum zinc and iron were elevated in CF and non-CF bronchiectasis vs controls (P < .001, zinc; P < .01 iron). Manganese was elevated in asthma (P < .01) and bronchiectasis (P < .05) vs controls. Copper was elevated in CF vs controls (P < .05). Zinc decreased (P < .01) following treatment of CF exacerbation. In subjects with CF zinc levels correlated with other biomarkers.
These results suggest a relationship of high concentrations of total zinc and iron with airways inflammation in CF and non-CF bronchiectasis, with longitudinal changes being observed in CF. Further work is required to elucidate potential inflammatory mechanisms related to these observations.
诱导痰细胞学和蛋白质生物标志物可用于评估气道炎症。在炎症性肺部疾病中，已描述痰液铁含量增加。我们假设其他痰液金属可能受到气道炎症的影响，并研究了它们作为生物标志物的潜在价值。
从 20 名健康对照者和患有炎症性肺部疾病的患者（23 名囊性纤维化 [CF]、16 名支气管扩张症、17 名哮喘和 23 名 COPD）中获得痰液，并测量铁、锌、锰和铜。还对 14 名 CF 患者进行了一次加重周期研究。
CF 和非 CF 支气管扩张症患者的痰液锌和铁含量高于对照组（P <.001，锌；P <.01 铁）。哮喘（P <.01）和支气管扩张症（P <.05）患者的锰含量升高。CF 患者的铜含量高于对照组（P <.05）。CF 加重治疗后锌水平降低（P <.01）。在 CF 患者中，锌水平与其他生物标志物相关。
这些结果表明，高浓度的总锌和铁与 CF 和非 CF 支气管扩张症的气道炎症有关，在 CF 中观察到纵向变化。需要进一步研究阐明与这些观察结果相关的潜在炎症机制。
