Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Aug 6:14:36.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2172-14-36.

Local and systemic neutrophilic inflammation in patients with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Neringa Vaguliene  1 , Marius Zemaitis, Simona Lavinskiene, Skaidrius Miliauskas, Raimundas Sakalauskas
Affiliations

Local and systemic neutrophilic inflammation in patients with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Neringa Vaguliene et al. BMC Immunol. .

Abstract

Background: Recent investigations suggest that neutrophils play an important role in the immune response to lung cancer as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the amount of neutrophils and markers of their activity in lung cancer and COPD and in coexistence of these two diseases.

Methods: In total, 267 persons were included in the study: 139 patients with lung cancer, 55 patients with lung cancer and COPD, 40 patients with COPD, and 33 healthy subjects. Peripheral blood and BAL fluid samples were obtained for cell count analysis and determination of NE, MPO levels and ROS production. NE and MPO levels in the serum and BAL fluid were determined by ELISA. ROS production was analyzed by flow cytometer.

Results: The percentage, cell count of neutrophils and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in the peripheral blood were significantly higher in lung cancer patients with or without COPD compared to COPD patients or healthy individuals (P < 0.05). The percentage and cell count of neutrophils in BAL fluid were significantly lower in patients with lung cancer with or without COPD than in patients with COPD (P < 0.05). However, BAL fluid and serum levels of both NE and MPO were significantly higher in patients with lung cancer than COPD patients or healthy individuals (P < 0.05). Neutrophils produced higher amounts of ROS in patients with lung cancer with or without COPD compared with COPD patients or healthy individuals (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The results from this study demonstrate higher degree of local and systemic neutrophilic inflammation in patients with lung cancer (with or without COPD) than in patients with COPD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A histogram representing changes in ROS production in the neutrophils of peripheral blood of study patients after stimulation with different concentrations of PMA. Data are presented as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ± SEM. *P < 0.05, when compared with COPD and healthy individuals groups; §P < 0.05, when compared with healthy individuals. The representative dot plot of neurophil population isolated from peripheral blood of healthy individuals (A), patients with COPD (B), patients with lung cancer/COPD (C) and patients with lung cancer (D) stimulated upon 30 nM of Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Side light scater (SSC) represents the granularity, complexity of the cells; FSC – forward light scatter (FSC) represents cell size; dihydrorhodamine-123 (DHR-123) a green fluorescent compound showing H2O2 intensity in neutrophils.
Figure 2
Figure 2
NE and MPO levels (ng/mL) in serum and BAL fluid in patients with advanced and early stage lung cancer, patients with lung cancer/COPD, patients with COPD and healthy individuals. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, when compared with COPD and healthy individuals; §P < 0.05, when compared with healthy individuals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pharoah PD, Dunning AM, Ponder BA, Easton DF. Association studies for finding cancer-susceptibility genetic variants. Nat Rev Cancer. 2004;4(11):850–860. doi: 10.1038/nrc1476. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mantovani A, Allavena P, Sica A, Balkwill F. Cancer-related inflammation. Nature. 2008;454(7203):436–444. doi: 10.1038/nature07205. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barbu C, Iordache M, Man MG. Inflammation in COPD: pathogenesis, local and systemic effects. Rom J Morphol Embryo. 2011;52(1):21–27. - PubMed
    1. Rahman I. The role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of COPD: implications for therapy. Treatments Resp Med. 2005;4(3):175–200. doi: 10.2165/00151829-200504030-00003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Klaunig JE, Wang Z, Pu X, Zhou S. Oxidative stress and oxidative damage in chemical carcinogenesis. Toxicol Appl Pharm. 2011;254(2):86–99. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2009.11.028. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms