Clinical significance of MCP‐1 levels in BALF and serum in patients with interstitial lung diseases

Abstract

It has previously been reported that the expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in the lung tissues of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) was different from that in the tissues of patients with other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). The aim of this study was to determine whether this difference reflects the amount of MCP-1 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) or serum of patients with ILD, and whether such a correlation, if it exists, is clinically useful. MCP-1 concentrations in the BALF and sera were evaluated in 86 patients with ILDs including IPF, acute interstitial pneumonia, interstitial pneumonia with collagen vascular disease (IP-CVD), chronic interstitial pneumonia (CIP), bronchiolitis obliterans-organizing pneumonia, sarcoidosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and in 10 normal healthy volunteers who were controls (NC). BALF MCP-1 levels were significantly elevated in the IPF, IP-CVD, CIP and sarcoidosis groups compared with the NC group. The level in the IPF group was significantly higher than that in any other patient group. Serum MCP-1 levels in the IPF, IP-CVD, CIP and sarcoidosis groups were significantly higher than the NC group. No statistical difference was found in serum MCP-1 levels between the IPF, IP-CVD and CIP groups. BALF MCP-1 levels were significantly higher than serum MCP-1 levels in the IPF group and lower than in the IP-CVD and CIP groups. Serum MCP-1 levels correlated with the clinical course of ILD treated with corticosteroid therapy. These results show that measurement of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels in both bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum may be helpful in discriminating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis from other types of interstitial lung disease and that monitoring of serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 may be useful for predicting the clinical course of interstitial lung diseases.

Elevated CC Chemokine Level in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Is Predictive of a Poor Outcome of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

“…CCL2 and CCL3 are significantly upregulated both in BAL fluid of patients with IPF and in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis [11, 12]. In this study, we observed a difference in CCL2 levels in BAL fluid between the surviving and nonsurviving patients with IPF whereas CCL3 levels in BAL fluid did not differ.…”

“…Several studies have demonstrated the presence of CC chemokines in human interstitial lung diseases [10,11,12,13,14,15]. Augmented production of macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (CCL2) by metaplastic epithelial cells and its increase in parallel with disease activity were reported in IPF [11, 12].…”

Inhibition of key cytokines by tetrathiomolybdate in the bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis

“…In addition to its well known chemoattractant activity for mononuclear leukocytes [30][31][32][33][34][35], MCP-1 has direct pro-fibrogenic activity as demonstrated by its capacity to stimulate fibroblast collagen expression via endogenous upregulation of TGF b production [36]. In addition, analyses of lung tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) as well as in animal models have demonstrated elevated levels of MCP-1 expression [37][38][39][40][41][42]. The precise in vivo role of MCP-1 and its cognate receptor CCR2 remains uncertain, but its importance in pulmonary fibrosis has been documented and appears to be unrelated to its pro-inflammatory activity [43,44].…”

Direct Hemoperfusion Using Immobilized Polymyxin B in Patients with Rapidly Progressive Interstitial Pneumonias: A Retrospective Study

“…These mediators belong to the CXC family (α subfamily) that selectively attracts neutrophils. The MCP-1 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and sera in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other types of IP are increased [40,41,42]; likewise, increased levels of CXC chemokines are associated with pathological conditions in IP [43,44,45]. The blood levels of some inflammatory chemokines, e.g.…”