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Higher pentraxin 3 sputum levels indicate presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Pentraxin 3 better discriminated between patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease vs. patients with asthma, according to recent research published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

“[T]he present study showed that [pentraxin 3 (PTX3)] in sputum levels was significantly increased in patients with COPD and showed a good discriminatory power distinguishing these patients from patients with asthma and healthy individuals,” Fabiano L. Schwingel, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil. “These results open the perspective of using PTX3 in future studies to better characterize overlap syndrome.”

Schwingel and colleagues performed a cross-sectional study of 68 patients from whom a sputum sample was collected to determine differential cell numbers and PTX3 levels, according to the abstract. Of these patients, 27 had COPD, 25 had asthma and 16 patients comprised a control group.

They found PTX3 in 89% of patients with COPD, 56% of patients with asthma and 19% of patients in the control group; however, the researchers were able to differentiate each group based on PTX3 levels, with COPD having the highest levels (24.6 ng/mL; 0–384 ng/mL) of PTX3 followed by patients with asthma (1.2 ng/mL; 0–100 ng/mL) and patients in the control group (0 ng/mL; 0–36 ng/mL, according to the abstract.

A further regression analysis showed that PTX3 sputum and neutrophil counts were independently associated with COPD, with higher PTX3 levels indicated a greater severity of COPD. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.