RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ageing and smoking contribute to plasma surfactant proteins and protease imbalance with correlations to airway obstruction
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP p796
VO 38
IS Suppl 55
A1 Helen Ilumets
A1 Witold Mazur
A1 Tuula Toljamo
A1 Noora Louhelainen
A1 Pentti Nieminen
A1 Hideo Kobayashi
A1 Nobuhisa Ishikawa
A1 Vuokko Kinnula
YR 2011
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p796.abstract
AB Background: A significant number of young people start smoking at an age of 13-15, which means that serious smoking-evoked changes may have been occurred by their twenties. Surfactant proteins (SP) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) have been linked to cigarette smoke induced lung remodelling and COPD. However, the level of these proteins has not been examined during ageing or in young individuals with short smoking histories.Methods: Plasma levels of SP-A, SP-D, MMP-9, and TIMP-1 were measured by EIA/ELISA from young (18-23 years) non-smoking controls (YNS) (n=36), smokers (YS) (n=51), middle aged/elderly (37-77 years) non-smoking controls (ONS) (n=40), smokers (OS) (n= 64) (FEV1/FVC >0.7 in all subjects) and patients with COPD (n=44, 35-79 years).Results: Plasma levels of SP-A increased with age and in the older group in relation to smoking and COPD. Plasma SP-D and MMP-9 levels did not change with age but were elevated in OS and COPD as compared to ONS. The TIMP-1 level declined with age but increased in chronic smokers when compared to ONS. The clearest correlations could be detected between plasma SP-A vs age, pack years and FEV1/FVC. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed SP-A to be the best marker for discriminating between patients with COPD and the controls (area under ROC curve of 0.842; 95% confidence interval, 0.785-0.899; p<0.001).Conclusions: Age has a significant contribution to potential markers related to smoking and COPD; SP-A seems to be the best factor in differentiating COPD from the controls.