Expression of NF-κB and HIF-1 in PBMC of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of NF-κB and HIF-1 in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),and the role of them in the pathogenesis of COPD.Methods Western blotting and real-time quantitative PCR methods were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with stable COPD group (moderate and over,30 cases) and the matched control group ( n =30) to detect the expression the levels of NF-κB,HIF-1 protein and NF-κB,HIF-1 mRNA.Results NF-κB mRNA,HIF-1 mRNA levels in PBMC were significantly higher in COPD group than in control group (0.013±0.010 vs 0.005±0.003,P ＜ 0.01,0.030 ± 0.025 vs 0.008±0.006,P ＜0.01). Nuclei NF-κB,HIF-1 protein expression were significantly higher in COPD group than in control group (1.08±0.12 vs 0.87±0.09,P ＜0.01,1.12 ± 0.09 vs 0.97±0.17,P =0.002).There were differences of NF-κB protein in the different stages COPD ( P ＜0.01),and FEV1％pred was significantly negatively correlated with NF-κB (r =-0.657,P ＜0.01). There were no significant differences of NF-κB mRNA, HIF-1 mRNA and HIF-1 protein in the different stages COPD, no correlations with FEV1％pred,( P ＞0.05).There were positive correlations between NF-κB mRNA and HIF-1 mRNA (r =0.673,P ＜0.01),between NF-κB protein and HIF-1 protein (r =0.56,P =0.001).Conclusions Expression of NF-κB,HIF-1 mRNA and protein in PBMC of patients with COPD were increased.HIF-1 stable expresses throughout the different severity of COPD.The expression of NF-κB protein has correlation of disease severity.It shows that under chronic persistent hypoxia the systemic inflammatory response and the adaptive protection mechanisms are activated in moderate to very severe COPD patients. Key words: Hypoxia-inducible factor-1; Nuclear factor-κB; Pulmonary disease; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease