Inflammation and Infection Research Centre (IIRC), Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Department of Respiratory Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia.
J Breath Res. 2013 Dec;7(4):046003. doi: 10.1088/1752-7155/7/4/046003. Epub 2013 Oct 4.
Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is a non-invasive method of sampling airway lining fluids in respiratory diseases. This may be useful in identifying exhaled biomarkers of granulomatous inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis in patients with sarcoidosis. The aim of this pilot study was to identify markers of granulomatous airway inflammation and disease activity including neopterin, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in EBC. EBC was collected from 16 patients with sarcoidosis and 22 healthy control subjects. EBC neopterin, and active-TGF-β1 were measured by ELISA. EBC-ACE activity was measured using a colorimetric assay. EBC neopterin was detectable in 3/20 controls and 7/16 patients with sarcoidosis. Patients with sarcoidosis had greater mean neopterin levels compared to control subjects (0.57 ± 0.45 nmol l(-1) versus 0.41 ± 0.22 nmol l(-1), p = 0.04). TGF-β1 was detectable in the EBC of all subjects and concentrations were higher in patients with sarcoidosis compared with controls (115.5 ± 79.6 pg mol(-1) versus 82.3 ± 16.2 pg mol(-1), p = 0.048). There was no difference in EBC ACE activity, which was only detectable in 3/20 healthy controls and 2/16 patients (p = 0.91). EBC markers of granulomatous inflammation are detectable at greater levels in patients with sarcoidosis compared to healthy controls subjects. Larger studies and development of sensitive assays are warranted to examine the disease correlates and predictive utility of these markers.
呼出气冷凝物（EBC）是一种非侵入性的采样方法，可用于呼吸疾病的气道衬里液。这在识别结节病患者的肉芽肿性炎症和肺纤维化的呼气生物标志物方面可能是有用的。本初步研究的目的是确定 EBC 中的肉芽肿性气道炎症和疾病活动的标志物，包括新蝶呤、转化生长因子-β1（TGF-β1）和血管紧张素转换酶（ACE）。从 16 例结节病患者和 22 例健康对照者中采集 EBC。通过 ELISA 测定 EBC 中新蝶呤和活性-TGF-β1。通过比色法测定 EBC-ACE 活性。在 3/20 名对照者和 7/16 名结节病患者中可检测到 EBC 中新蝶呤。与对照组相比，结节病患者的新蝶呤水平更高（0.57 ± 0.45 nmol l(-1) 比 0.41 ± 0.22 nmol l(-1)，p = 0.04）。所有受试者的 EBC 中均可检测到 TGF-β1，且结节病患者的浓度高于对照组（115.5 ± 79.6 pg mol(-1) 比 82.3 ± 16.2 pg mol(-1)，p = 0.048）。EBC ACE 活性无差异，仅在 3/20 名健康对照者和 2/16 名患者中可检测到（p = 0.91）。与健康对照组相比，结节病患者的 EBC 肉芽肿性炎症标志物水平更高。需要更大的研究和开发更敏感的检测方法来检查这些标志物的疾病相关性和预测效用。
