RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Anti-inflammatory activity of macrolides in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the identification of potential biomarkers of azithromycin administration
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP p3869
VO 38
IS Suppl 55
A1 Simon Hall
A1 Stuart Farrow
YR 2011
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p3869.abstract
AB Many studies in the recent past have determined that macrolide antibiotics have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity in addition to their efficacy in treating bacterial infection. Macrolides have been successfully used in the treatment of diverse chronic inflammatory respiratory disorders, including diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB), cystic fibrosis (CF) and bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS). We investigated the ability of azithromycin to attenuate the effects of a lymphocyte directed pro-inflammatory stimulus in PBMCs from healthy volunteers. Our results demonstrate that azithromycin significantly inhibited the induction of proliferation and the release of IL17 in these cells. Treatment with azithromycin in the absence of a pro-inflammatory stimulus in PBMCs induced the release of IL10 in a dose dependent manner 24 h after challenge. In the same model, azithromycin caused a dose dependent, bell-shaped release of GMCSF 24 h after treatment. In conclusion, azithromycin exhibits significant anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties and IL10 and GMCSF may prove to be useful biomarkers following macrolide therapy in respiratory disorders.