Affiliations: Department of Pneumology & Allergology, Medical
University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland | Department of Thoracic Medicine, National Heart and
Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK
Note: [] Corresponding author: Maciej Ciebiada, Department of Pneumology
and Allergy, Medical University of Łódź, Kopcińskiego 22, 90-153
Łódź, Poland. Tel.: 4842 678 7505; Fax: 4842 678 2129; E-mail:
maciej_ciebiada@op.pl
Abstract: Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) has been increasingly used as a new
and non-invasive method to study airway inflammation. In this study we have
compared the concentrations of lipid mediators in EBC with concentrations in
bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). We included 37 patients undergoing
bronchoscopy (12 sarcoidosis, 12 COPD, 6 lung cancer, 5 chronic cough, 1
Wegener's granulomatosis, 1 sclerodermia). Patients were not allowed to have
exacerbation or any change in concomitant medication for at least 4 weeks prior
to the study. In all patients, EBC was collected immediately prior to the
bronchoscopy. The levels of cys-LTs, LTB_{4}, 8-isoprostane
were significantly higher in BALF compared to EBC (p <
0.0001, p< 0.001, p< 0.0001 for cys-LTs,
LTB4, 8-isoprostane respectively). Moreover, there was a strong positive
correlation between both leukotriene B_{4} and 8-isoprostane
in BALF and EBC (r=0.53 and r=0.79,
p< 0.01, respectively) in patients with sarcoidosis and COPD
but there was no correlation between eicosanoids BALF and EBC in patients with
chronic cough and lung cancer. This is the first study to compare EBC and BALF
in different lung diseases which demonstrated significant correlations between
the levels of eicosanoids in BALF and EBC in patients with COPD and
sarcoidosis. EBC may be useful in measuring inflammation in several
inflammatory lung diseases.
