Abstract
Background. Oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory lung diseases. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection is a noninvasive method to investigate pulmonary oxidative stress biomarkers such as malondialdehyde (MDA). Subjects and Methods. We measured MDA levels in EBC in a large number of patients (N = 194) with respiratory diseases: asthma (N = 64), bronchiectasis (BE, N = 19), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, N = 73), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, N = 38). Fourteen healthy nonsmoking subjects were included as controls. Results. Excluding IPF subjects, MDA levels were significantly higher in all disease groups than in control group. MDA was significantly higher in COPD than asthmatic and BE subjects. Among asthmatics, corticosteroids-treated subjects had lower MDA levels than untreated subjects. COPD subjects showed an inverse correlation between MDA concentrations and FEV1% (rho: −0.24, P < .05). Conclusions. EBC-MDA is increased in subjects with chronic airway disorders, particularly in COPD, and it is related to FEV1 reduction.
Highlights
Oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory lung diseases
Healthy subjects and patients with Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis BE (IPF) were distributed in the lower range of MDA, while COPD patients were mainly represented in the categories with higher MDA concentrations
Comparing asthmatic patients according to treatment, we found that Inhaled corticosteroids N (ICS)-treated subjects had lower levels of MDA than untreated subjects (21.5 (6–72) versus 32.0(8–91) nM, P < .05)
Summary
Oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory lung diseases. We measured MDA levels in EBC in a large number of patients (N = 194) with respiratory diseases: asthma (N = 64), bronchiectasis (BE, N = 19), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, N = 73), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF, N = 38). EBC-MDA is increased in subjects with chronic airway disorders, in COPD, and it is related to FEV1 reduction. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory lung disorders, in COPD and asthma, where it is an important consequence of irritant-induced damage of bronchial epithelial cells and represents an amplifying mechanism through the recruitment of inflammatory cells in the airways [1, 2]. Several biomarkers have been measured in EBC, including aldehydes, H2O2, adenosine, isoprostanes, leukotrienes and cytokines, and an increasing number of studies report the use of EBC in the investigation of airway lining fluid composition in several respiratory diseases [6]
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