Urinary desmosine excretion in acute exacerbations of COPD: a preliminary report

Desmosine (DES) is an elastin-derived, cross-link amino acid, which is not metabolized; hence, its urinary levels reflect elastin breakdown. We hypothesized that elastin degradation should increase as a result of increased lung inflammation during an acute exacerbation of COPD and should decrease af...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Respiratory medicine 2002-02, Vol.96 (2), p.110-114
Main Authors: FIORENZA, D, VIGLIO, S, LUPI, A, BACCHESCHI, J, TINELLI, C, TRISOLINI, R, IADAROLA, P, LUISETTI, M, SNIDER, G.L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Aged
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers - urine
Chromatography, Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma
Desmosine - urine
elastin
Elastin - urine
Forced Expiratory Volume
high performance capillary electrophoresis
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Medical sciences
micellar electrokinetic chromatography
Middle Aged
Pneumology
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - physiopathology
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - urine
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Summary:Desmosine (DES) is an elastin-derived, cross-link amino acid, which is not metabolized; hence, its urinary levels reflect elastin breakdown. We hypothesized that elastin degradation should increase as a result of increased lung inflammation during an acute exacerbation of COPD and should decrease after recovery. To test this hypothesis we measured DES in three urine samples from nine COPD subjects during the first 5 days of an acute exacerbation and at 2 months after recovery. We also measured forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) to monitor the effects of the exacerbation on ventilatory function. The mean (SD) FEV1 was 45 (15)% predicted during the exacerbation and 57·8 (16)% predicted 2 months later (P=0·00001). The mean (SD) DES excretion was 25·3 (9)μ g g−1 creatinine at day 1;23·5 (9) at day 3 and 24 (9) at day 5 of the exacerbation. The mean (SD) urinary DES excretion 60 days after discharge was 20·9 (7) μ g g−1 creatinine (P=0·049) in comparison with the mean of the three acute-phase values. The size of the increase in desmosine excretion during exacerbation is small, 3·2 μ g g−1 creatinine or 16% of the recovery desmosine value. We conclude that there is a small but statistically significant increase in lung elastin breakdown in the body during an acute exacerbation of COPD.
ISSN:0954-6111
1532-3064
DOI:10.1053/rmed.2001.1224