Biomarkers of inflammation in persons with chronic tetraplegia

Abstract

In addition to lung volume restriction, individuals with chronic tetraplegia exhibit reduced airway caliber and bronchodilator responsiveness similar to persons with asthma. In asthma, airflow obstruction is closely linked to airway inflammation. Conversely, little is known regarding the airway inflammatory response in tetraplegia. To compare levels of biomarkers of inflammation in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and serum in subjects with chronic tetraplegia, mild asthma, and able-bodied controls.Prospective, observational pilot study. Thirty-four subjects participated: tetraplegia (n = 12), asthma (n = 12), controls (n = 10). Biomarkers in EBC [8-isoprostane (8-IP), leukotriene B4 (LT-B4), prostaglandin E2 (PG-E2), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6)] and serum (8-IP, LT-B4, TNF-α, IL-6) were determined using commercially available EIA kits (Cayman Chemical Company, Ann Arbor, MI). Separate, one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni's post-hoc analyses were performed to determine group differences in demographic and dependent variables [EBC and serum biomarkers, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), pulmonary function parameters, and specific airway conductance (sGaw)]. The tetraplegia group had significantly elevated 8-IP levels in EBC compared to the asthma (68 ± 38 versus 21 ± 13 pg ml(-1); p < 0.001) and control groups (22 ± 13 pg ml(-1); p < 0.01), respectively. FeNO levels were significantly elevated in the asthma compared to the control group (26 ± 18 versus 11 ± 4 ppb; p < 0.05), and trended higher than levels in the tetraplegia group (15 ± 6; p = 0.08). Levels of serum biomarkers did not differ significantly among groups. Through analysis of EBC, levels of 8-IP were significantly elevated compared to levels found in individuals with mild asthma and healthy controls. Further studies are needed to extend upon these preliminary findings that suggest the presence of airway inflammation in subjects with chronic tetraplegia, and how this relates to pulmonary dysfunction in this population.

Exploring adipogenic and myogenic circulatory biomarkers of recurrent pressure injury risk for persons with spinal cord injury

“…There is growing appreciation that there is increased subclinical inflammatory activity following SCI (15)(16)(17), which has recently been confirmed by functional genomics (18). When inflammation is prolonged by dysregulation, it can have harmful effects on tissue.…”

Reference Ranges of 8-Isoprostane Concentrations in Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Participants were 54% males and 46% females. Only 18 studies reported BMI [15,17,18,22,25,31,38,43,47,48,53,57,64,82,84,86,90,95]. Among them 65% reported BMI higher than 25.…”

“…We therefore analyzed 8-isoprostane levels according to gender but found no statistically significant difference between males and females. There were only nine studies out of 52 [15,24,46,[53][54][55]57,82,95] which focused on the gender issue. This limited number of studies that included separately male and female participants may contribute to the absence of a gender effect on 8-isoprostane concentration in EBC.…”

Inflammatory Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath Condensate: A Systematic Review

“…Among the 2389 items initially identified, 460 duplicates were removed before screening by EndNote and manually. The remaining 1929 were screened, and 36 research articles were included in the systematic review [ 7 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. The exclusion criteria lead to the removal of 267 articles.…”