Abstract Background: COPD is a chronic disease of the lungs characterized by increased obstruction
to airflow that does not change markedly over periods of several months. Low-grade systemic
inflammation is considered a hallmark of COPD that potentially links COPD to increased rate of
systemic manifestations of the disease. Evaluation of systemic inflammation in COPD particularly
when the disease is severe and during exacerbation can be measured either as increased circulating
cytokines, chemokines and acute phase proteins, or as abnormalities in the circulating cells and
markers. One of these inflammatory mediators is IL-1B which demonstrated recent reports in significantly
high levels of IL-1b in serum of the COPD patients as compared to the healthy controls.
Aim of the study: To assess the level of serum IL-1B in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
patients during acute exacerbation and in stable conditions and also, to determine if the changes
in its level correlated with changes in the ventilatory functions.
Methods: 80 cases were included in this study: 60 COPD patients and 20 healthy subjects as a
control. There were 48 males and 12 females in COPD groups and 17 males and 3 females in the
control group. Their age ranged from 41 to 79 years with a mean age of 59 years. The subjects were
classified into 3 groups. Group I includes (30) patients with acute exacerbation of COPD. Group II
includes (30) patients with stable controlled COPD. Group III includes (20) healthy persons as a
control.
Results: There was a highly statistically significant difference in serum IL-1B (pg/ml) between
studied groups, which indicates that IL-1B plays a role in systemic inflammatory process. There
was a highly statistically significant difference in serum IL-1B concentration (pg/ml) and severity
of COPD cases.
Conclusions: IL-1b correlated with clinical aspects of disease severity, suggesting that IL-1b may
play a critical role in COPD. |
