Sputum and serum autoantibody profiles and their clinical correlation patterns in COPD patients with and without eosinophilic airway inflammation

Abstract

Background: Autoimmunity plays a role in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the autoantibody responses and their clinical correlation patterns in COPD patients with and without airway eosinophilic inflammation are unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the autoantibody profiles and their clinical associations in stable COPD patients, stratified by airway inflammatory phenotypes.Methods: Matched sputum and serum, obtained from 62 stable COPD patients and 14 age-matched controls, were assayed for the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies against 13 autoantigens using protein array. A sputum eosinophil count ≥3% was used as cut-off value to stratify COPD patients into eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic groups. Correlation network analysis was used to evaluate the correlation patterns among autoantibody and clinical variables in each group. Results: There were no significant differences of clinical parameters and autoantibody levels between the two COPD groups. In non-eosinophilic COPD, sputum anti-CytochromeC_IgG and anti-Aggrecan_IgM were significantly higher than those in healthy controls, and prior exacerbation was positively associated with lung function and sputum anti-Collagen-IV_IgG. While in eosinophilic COPD, sputum/serum anti-heat shock protein (HSP)47_IgG, serum anti-HSP70_IgG and serum anti-Amyloid-beta_IgG were significantly lower than those in healthy controls, and no significant correlation between prior exacerbations and lung function was found. Differences were also observed in network hubs, with the network for non-eosinophilic COPD possessing 9 hubs comprising two lung function parameters and seven autoantibodies, compared with eosinophilic COPD possessing 12 hubs all comprising autoantibodies. Conclusions: Autoantibody responses were heterogeneous and differentially correlated with the exacerbation risk and other clinical parameters in COPD patients of different inflammatory phenotypes. These findings provide useful insight into the need for personalized management for preventing COPD exacerbations. 3086 Liang et al. Sputum and serum autoantibody profiles in eosinophilic COPD

Heat-Induced Secretion of Heat Shock Proteins 70 and 90 Does not Affect the Expression of the Glucocorticoid Receptor in Primary Airway Cells in COPD

“…Future studies have to investigate the possibility of a cell-type specific effect of eHSPs as reported by others [ 41 ]. Furthermore, when assessing the effects of eHSP70 in the context of COPD the presence of inhibitory acting HSP auto-antibodies, which have been reported in COPD patient’s sputum and serum [ 42 ], has to be taken into account. Thus, it will be necessary to determine the ratio of free and antibody bound HSPs in COPD patient; such data are currently missing.…”

A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Control Feasibility Trial of Immunoglobulin Treatment for Prevention of Recurrent Acute Exacerbations of COPD

“…A prospective measurement of inflammatory markers following Ig administration, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein or sputum autoantibodies, would be informative. 22 , 23 …”

Polyvalent Immunoglobulin as a Potential Treatment Option for Patients with Recurrent COPD Exacerbations

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