Chest
Original ResearchBiomarkersSputum Trace Metals Are Biomarkers of Inflammatory and Suppurative Lung Disease
Section snippets
Subjects
Induced sputum was obtained from patients attending the Respiratory Unit at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. Approval was obtained from the local regional ethics committee. Twenty-three patients with CF, 16 with non-CF bronchiectasis, 17 with asthma, 23 with COPD, and 20 healthy controls were studied. In order to monitor the effects of a changing state of inflammation, sputum samples were obtained from 14 additional patients with CF during CF exacerbation. Exacerbation samples were
Subject Demographics
The demographic profiles and sputum cytology of each group are shown in Table 1. The CF group was younger than the control and other disease groups (P < .01). Of the COPD group 10 were current smokers, nine ex-smokers, and four gave no information on current smoking status. Of the patients with CF, 14 were colonized with P aeruginosa, the other patients being colonized by a variety of organisms, including Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Burkholderia cenocepacia species.
Assay Reproducibility
Pooled samples of five
Discussion
Total elemental zinc and iron concentrations are elevated in sputum from subjects with CF and non-CF bronchiectasis compared with healthy control subjects. There is a small degree of overlap between the CF and control groups, but this may be explained by the finding that patients with CF in this small subgroup had better lung function and thus less severe lung disease (data not shown). Sputum zinc levels were also significantly higher in CF and non-CF bronchiectasis compared with COPD. Sputum
Acknowledgments
Author contributions: Dr Gray: contributed to the original concept and design of the study, manuscript writing and preparation, and collecting, processing, and analyzing samples.
Dr Duncan: contributed to overseeing trace element analysis and providing intellectual input to the manuscript.
Dr Noble: contributed to collecting, processing, and analyzing samples.
Ms Imrie: contributed to collecting, processing, and analyzing samples.
Dr O'Reilly: contributed to overseeing trace element analysis and
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Funding/Support: This study was funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust (R.D.G. and A.C.B.). R.D.G. was supported in part by the Medical Research Council (Programme Grant G9313618). D.N. was supported by an unrestricted grant from GlaxoSmithKline.
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