Chest
Laboratory and Animal InvestigationsElevated Pleural Fluid Levels of Defensins in Patients With Empyema
Section snippets
Patients and Diagnostic Categories
We studied 61 consecutive patients with pleural effusions who were admitted to our hospital between September 1991 and July 1996. They consisted of 16 women and 45 men, aged 64.0±5.3 years. Thoracentesis was performed in each patient and pleural fluid samples obtained were centrifuged at 500×g for 10 min and supernatants were stored at —20°C until analysis. Pleural effusions were categorized as transudates (ratio of pleural fluid to serum total protein concentration <0.5 and ratio of those of
Results
All pleural fluid samples analyzed in the present study contained defensins. Although the concentration of defensins varied from one type of effusion to another, it was significantly higher in empyema (13,265.8±1,895.2 ng/mL) than in other groups. Furthermore, the concentration of defensins was >5, 100 ng/mL in all the samples of empyema, which was true for none of the other 50 effusion samples tested (Fig 1, top [A]). The concentration of defensins in each exudative effusion of other groups
Discussion
The major findings of the present study were the presence of high concentrations of defensins in pleural effusion of patients with empyema. Because the localization of defensins is restricted to cells of neutrophil lineage,1, 2, 13 such high levels must be due to neutrophil accumulation in the pleural space in these patients. Furthermore, the level of defensins in pleural effusion was >5, 100 ng/mL in patients with empyema but not in any of the other patients. This finding suggests that these
References (27)
- et al.
Isolation and sequence determination of 6- and 8-kDa precursors of human neutrophil peptides from bone marrow, plasma and peripheral blood neutrophils
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
(1995) - et al.
Establishment of radioimmunoassay for human neutrophil peptides and their increases in plasma and neutrophil in infection
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
(1993) - et al.
Scanning mutagenesis of interleukin-8 identifies a cluster of residues required for receptor binding
J Biol Chem
(1991) - et al.
An enzyme immunoassay for human defensins
J Immunol Methods
(1991) - et al.
IL-8 in pleural effusion
Respir Med
(1996) - et al.
Human neutrophils exhibit disparate chemotactic factor gene expression
Biochem Biophys Res Commun
(1990) - et al.
Hematologic effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in patients with malignancy
Blood
(1989) - et al.
Levels of serum granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in patients with infections
Blood
(1990) - et al.
Defensins: a family of antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides
Toxicology
(1994) - et al.
Activity of rabbit leukocyte peptides against Candida albicans
Infect Immun
(1985)
In vitro effect of phagocyte cationic peptides on Coccidioides immitis
J Infect Dis
Direct inactivation of viruses by MCP-1 and MCP-2, natural peptide antibiotics from rabbit leukocytes
J Virol
Direct inactivation of viruses by human granulocyte defensins
J Virol
Cited by (45)
Elevated BALF concentrations of α- and β-defensins in patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
2007, Respiratory MedicineThe differential diagnostic values of cytokine levels in pleural effusions
2005, Mediators of InflammationDiagnostic value of soluble biomarkers for parapneumonic pleural effusion
2023, Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory SciencesMammalian antimicrobial peptides: Promising therapeutic targets against infection and chronic inflammation
2016, Current Topics in Medicinal ChemistryPleural mesothelial cells in pleural and lung diseases
2015, Journal of Thoracic Disease