Abstract
Exhaled breath condenstae (EBC) is a non-invasive, easily performed method for obtaining samples from respiratory tract. The use of EBC may be of great importance in patients with severe asthma, because of the difficulty in sputum induction (IS) in these patients.
The aim of our experiments was to determine the concentrations of selected cytokines in IS and EBC and verify the hypothesis that in patients with severe asthma sputum induction may be omitted for the EBC.
The study enrolled 17 patients with severe asthma who underwent sputum induction and EBC. Patients were free from acute exacerbations, but they received steroids therapy. The respiratory specimens were stored at -80 °C, and EBC was not densified. The concentration of IL-6, IL-13, TNF-α, TSLP, CCL-24 and IFNγ was determined in all samples with ELISA tests .
The obtained results are presented in the table.
The concentration of IL-13, TNF-α and TSLP were comparable in IS and EBC. Unexpectedly high levels of IFNγ in asthma patients in both IS and EBC may due to therapy, because steroid treatment may result in elevation of these markers. High significantly greater concentration of IL-6 and CCL-24 in IS vs. EBC was probably depended on the recovery of mucosal deposits of these markers during extraction of sputum.
The results of our study have confirmed the usefulness of EBC for analyze IL-13, and TNF α. The sputum samples seems to be better in analyze of IL-6 and definitely only one a good enough source of CCL-24.
- © 2014 ERS