Background: It has been shown that interleukin (IL)-18 levels in induced sputum are reduced in asthmatic and healthy smokers. However, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, recent data show an overproduction in the lungs and increased serum levels of IL-18, suggesting that IL-18 may be involved in the pathogenesis of COPD.
Method: In order to assess the relation of IL-18 with pulmonary function and airway inflammation in COPD, IL-18, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, and IL-8 levels were measured by ELISA in sputum supernatants obtained from patients with bronchitis type COPD (n=28), and healthy subjects (18 smokers and 17 non-smokers). Cellular localization of IL-18 was assessed by immunocytochemistry.
Results: The levels of IL-18 were significantly higher in sputum supernatants of COPD patients compared to healthy smokers and non-smokers (p<0.05). IL-18 production was localized to sputum macrophages. IL-18 levels were inversely correlated with FEV(1) (% predicted) (r=-0.572, p=0.002) and FEV(1)/FVC ratio in COPD smokers (r=-0.608, p=0.001). No correlations were found between IL-18 levels and inflammatory markers studied in induced sputum obtained from COPD patients, healthy smokers and non-smokers.
Conclusion: In patients with COPD, increased levels of IL-18 in induced sputum were associated with airflow limitation, suggesting that IL-18 may be implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2009.01.011 | DOI Listing |
NPJ Prim Care Respir Med
January 2025
Université Paris Cité, Department of general practice, Paris, France, Paris, France.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP) remains an important cause of community acquired pneumonia (CAP). We aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of outpatients with radiologically confirmed pneumococcal CAP. Between November 2017 and December 2019, a French network of general practitioners enrolled CAP-suspected adults, with ≥1 clinical signs of infection and ≥1 signs of pulmonary localization in an observational study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Current guidelines recommend empiric antibiotic therapy for patients who require hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). We sought to determine whether clinical, imaging or laboratory features in patients hospitalized for CAP in whom PCR is positive for a respiratory virus enable exclusion of bacterial coinfection so that antibiotics can be withheld.
Methods: For this prospective study, we selected patients in whom an etiologic diagnosis was likely to be reached, namely those who provided a high-quality sputum sample at or shortly after admission, and in whom PCR was done to test for a respiratory virus.
J Infect
January 2025
Center for Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA. Electronic address:
Objectives: Pediatric tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is complicated by challenges in obtaining invasive respiratory specimens that frequently contain few Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli. We report the diagnostic performance of an Mtb antigen-derived peptide (MAP-TB) assay and its ability to monitor TB treatment response.
Methods: Study cohorts enrolled children who presented with presumptive TB at two hospitals in South Africa from 2012 to 2017 (157 children aged <13 years) and at community-based clinics in the Dominican Republic from 2019 to 2023 (101 children aged <18 years).
Talanta
December 2024
The Affiliated Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510317, China. Electronic address:
Tuberculosis (TB) is the second deadliest infectious disease worldwide. Current TB diagnostics utilize sputum samples, which are difficult to obtain, and sample processing is time-consuming and difficult. This study developed an integrated diagnostic platform for the rapid visual detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in breath samples at the point-of-care (POC), especially in resource-limited settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Tuberc Lung Dis
January 2025
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Makerere College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda.
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