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Host and environmental factors affect pulmonary responses measured in bronchoalveolar lavage
Citation:
Huang, J., J. Soukup, Andy Ghio, AND Y. Huang. Host and environmental factors affect pulmonary responses measured in bronchoalveolar lavage. INHALATION TOXICOLOGY. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 26(1):30-5, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
Adipokine proteins, cytokines and iron homeostasis are all associated with obesity and may participate in altering susceptibility of the obese individual for increased inflammation following exposure to intrinsic and environmental insults.
Description:
Abstract Obesity is considered a chronic low-grade inflammatory state which may predispose individuals to lung disease. Measures of obesity can be associated with changes in adipokine levels, cytokine concentrations, and indices of iron homeostasis in the serum. To test for an effect of increasing body size on the environment of the lower respiratory tract, we measured leptin, adiponectin, MCP-1, IL-8, ferritin, transferrin, and metal concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples obtained from 80 healthy volunteers (40 males and 40 females, 18-35 years old). Mean body mass index (BMI) in males and females were 27.9 kg/m2 and 26.4 kg/m2 respectively. BAL leptin levels were 5.8 ± 1.4 pg/mL in females and 4.1 ± 0.6 in males, and correlated positively with BMI. BAL adiponectin levels were 0.6 ± 0.9 ng/mL in females and 0.3 ± 0.1 ng/mL in males, and tended to inversely correlate with BMI. MCP-1 correlated positively with BMI while IL-8 demonstrated no relationship with an index of body size. Lavage ferritin concentrations also increased with BMI but iron and zinc showed no changes. We conclude that measures of body size correlate with leptin, MCP-1, and ferritin concentrations in the lower respiratory tract. These proteins may participate in altering susceptibility of the obese individual for increased inflammation following exposure to intrinsic and environmental insults.