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Epidermal growth factor in the lungs of infants developing chronic lung disease

Dept of Child Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

CORRESPONDENCE: S. Kotecha, Dept of Child Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE2 7LX, UK. Fax: 44 1162523282/2585502

Keywords: bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic lung disease of prematurity, epidermal growth factor, growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor

Received: October 9, 2000
Accepted July 5, 2001

This study was funded in part by Action research and the British Lung Foundation.

Growth factors important to lung growth and fibrosis have been poorly studied in chronic lung disease (CLD) of prematurity. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) promotes epithelial cell maturation, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is important in angiogenesis.

The concentration of these growth factors was determined in 111 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples from 35 ventilated infants: 13 developed CLD (median gestation 27 weeks, birthweight 820 g), 16 developed and recovered from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (31 weeks, 1,415 g) and six control infants (33 weeks, 2,075 g) were ventilated for nonpulmonary reasons.

At birth, EGF in BALF from the CLD and RDS infants was lower than in the control infants (control versus CLD, 7.3 versus 0.0 pg·mL^–1, p<0.01; control versus RDS, 7.3 versus 5.0, p=0.08). EGF increased in all groups with a more rapid increase in control infants. A close relationship was noted between BALF EGF and gestational age (R=0.73). VEGF was undetectable at birth but increased at a similar rate in all three groups and did not correlate with gestation.

In conclusion, these data suggest that epidermal growth factor is closely correlated to gestation and that it may predispose preterm infants to develop chronic lung disease.