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  • Increased circulating endothelial microparticles in COPD patients: a potential biomarker for COPD exacerbation susceptibility

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Increased circulating endothelial microparticles in COPD patients: a potential biomarker for COPD exacerbation susceptibility
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  1. Toru Takahashi1,2,
  2. Seiichi Kobayashi3,
  3. Naoya Fujino1,
  4. Takaya Suzuki4,
  5. Chiharu Ota1,
  6. Mei He1,
  7. Mitsuhiro Yamada5,
  8. Satoshi Suzuki6,
  9. Masaru Yanai3,
  10. Shin Kurosawa2,
  11. Mutsuo Yamaya1,
  12. Hiroshi Kubo1
  1. 1Department of Advanced Preventive Medicine for Infectious Disease, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
  2. 2Department of Anaesthesiology, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan
  3. 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital, Ishinomaki, Japan
  4. 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
  5. 5Department of Infection Control and Laboratory Diagnostics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
  6. 6Department of Thoracic Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital, Ishinomaki, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Hiroshi Kubo, Department of Advanced Preventive Medicine for Infectious Disease, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryoumachi, Aobaku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; hkubo{at}med.tohoku.ac.jp

Abstract

Rationale The influence of COPD exacerbation on the endothelium is not completely understood. Circulating endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are membrane vesicles in circulating blood that are shed by activated or apoptotic endothelial cells.

Objective To compare EMP numbers in stable COPD patients with those during and after exacerbation.

Methods We examined the EMP numbers in 80 stable COPD patients, 27 patients with exacerbated COPD, and 20 healthy non-COPD volunteers. EMPs were defined as CD144+ MPs (VE-cadherin EMPs), CD31+/CD41− MPs (PECAM EMPs), CD146 MPs (MCAM EMPs) and CD62E+ EMPs (E-selectin EMPs) as analysed by FACS. Von Willebrand factor (vWF) expression was utilised to identify the origins of the EMPs.

Results VE-cadherin, PECAM and E-selectin EMP numbers were significantly higher in the stable COPD patients than in the non-COPD volunteers, and they were significantly higher in the patients with exacerbated COPD than in the stable COPD patients. The majority of these increased EMPs were vWF-negative, indicating a pulmonary capillary origin. Baseline E-selectin EMP levels were significantly higher in COPD patients who experienced frequent exacerbations than in those who did not have frequent exacerbations (p<0.001). Twenty-eight days after the onset of exacerbation, E-selectin EMP levels returned to those observed in stable COPD patients, whereas PECAM EMP levels remained high. MCAM EMP numbers were not elevated in stable or exacerbated-COPD patients.

Conclusions Endothelial damage, mainly in pulmonary capillaries, occurs during exacerbation and continues even after clinical symptoms disappear. Higher baseline E-selectin EMP levels may indicate COPD patients who are susceptible to exacerbation.

  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • endothelial microparticles
  • exacerbation, E-selectin

https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-201395

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    Footnotes

    • Funding This work was supported by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 22390163) to HK.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Patient consent We used a patient consent form approved by the Ethics Committees at Tohoku University School of Medicine and the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital, Japan. All consents were signed by the patients.

    • Ethics approval The Ethics Committees at Tohoku University School of Medicine and the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital, Japan.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.