Leptin levels in exhaled breath condensate from asthmatic children: a pilot study

Abstract

A cross-sectional analysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) found that overweight children aged between 6 and 16 years had three times more asthma risk than their healthy weight peers (1) . Another cross-sectional study supported the relationship between asthma and being overweight in childhood and showed that the prevalence of asthma was greater in overweight children (2) .Leptin, a 167-amino-acid peptide, is a recently discovered hormone which is believed to play a major role in the regulation of body weight. Recently, it has been reported that serum leptin levels are increased in asthmatic children (3) . Leptin has also been reported to have a specifi c effect on T-lymphocyte responses. It has been hypothesized that leptin is involved in the regulation of asthmatic airway infl ammation levels by regulating T-cell responses by polarizing Th cells toward a Th1 phenotype and by inhibiting immune responses, such as Th2 activation and may have a role in asthma (4) . Mai et al. (5) found twice as high serum levels of leptin in overweight asthmatic children compared to overweight children without current asthma. Serum leptin levels are associated with asthma in adult women, independent of BMI (6) . In children with asthma close associations have been shown between serum adiponectin and leptin and pulmonary function, but it has been suggested that they may play a regulatory role rather than being an etiologic mechanism of asthma development (7) .As very little is known about the role of leptin within the airways and lung tissue and asthma, non-invasive tools to investigate, such associations would allow epidemiological and longitudinal studies to be performed on a larger scale. Such studies are needed to confi rm the relationships of leptin and asthma and improve our understanding of associations between asthma and being overweight.Exhaled breath condensates (EBC) contain aerosolized airway lining fl uid and volatile compounds from the airways and the lung periphery. The assessment of EBC compounds is recognized to be a potentially useful research tool in children for the non-invasive quantifi cation of airway infl ammation and metabolic processes in asthma and other airway diseases.The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate whether leptin can be found in EBC and to investigate differences between condensate leptin levels in overweight and healthy weight children.A total of 20 children (fi ve overweight asthmatics, fi ve healthy weight asthmatics, fi ve overweight healthy and fi ve healthy weight healthy controls), aged 6 -15 years, were included in this study. We obtained data on weight and length (body mass index), lung function, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FE NO ) and allergic sensitization by the means of skin prick testing using a panel of common allergens including house dust mite, mold mix, tree mix, grass mix, weed mix, cat and dog hair. Informed consent was taken from the parents.Exhaled breath condensates were collected using the commercial EcoScreen breath c...

Serum and exhaled breath condensate leptin levels in asthmatic and obesity children: a pilot study

“…Recently, Carpagnano et al displayed that leptin is present in EBC in obese adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea [38], and Inci et al evaluated leptin in the EBC of children with bronchial asthma, observing unmeasurable values below the limit of detection [39].…”

Exhaled Breath Condensate—A Non-Invasive Approach for Diagnostic Methods in Asthma

“…Serum leptin levels were higher among asthmatic children, especially in boys. Unfortunately, in two studies with the use of EBC samples, there were conflicting conclusions; one of them confirmed a higher level of leptin among asthmatic and obese patients [ 103 ], while another did not manage to show a sufficient amount of this hormone in condensates [ 104 ].…”