Abstract
Surfactant proteins (SPs) have been studied in COPD patients as biomarkers of disease severity and as predictive factors of unfavorable outcomes. The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate serum levels of SP-A, SP-B, SP-C, and SP-D in patients with COPD both during AECOPD and in stability and to test their possible associations with disease severity and with the development of new exacerbation events. 20 consecutive COPD patients hospitalized for AECOPD were included. Serum SP levels were measured on admission, at discharge, and on stability. SP-A levels were significantly lower both on admission and at discharge in patients with early relapse compared to those with late or no relapse (29.2 ± 9.1 vs. 43.9 ± 16.9 ng/ml, p = 0.037, and 24.3 ± 2.8 vs. 39.3 ± 14.2 ng/ml, p = 0.011, respectively). SP-B levels were found to have a trend to be higher at discharge and significantly higher on stability in patients experiencing an early relapse compared to those with late or no relapse (52.5 ± 31.6 vs. 31.4 ± 32.3 ng/ml, p = 0.052 and 64.8 ± 32.6 vs. 32.8 ± 25.6 ng/ml, p = 0.024, respectively). Finally, the ROC analysis showed that serum SP-A, SP-B, and SP-C levels at discharge, seemed to be significant predictors of early relapse. Our conclusion is that serum levels of SPs might be related to disease outcomes in COPD patients.
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Konstantinos Kostikas is a Novartis employee. All other authors declare they have no conflict of interest related to the present manuscript.
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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Papaioannou, A.I., Konstantelou, E., Papaporfyriou, A. et al. Serum Surfactant Protein Levels in Patients Admitted to the Hospital with Acute COPD Exacerbation. Lung 196, 201–205 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-018-0099-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00408-018-0099-5