Background: The clinical and pathological presentation of COPD is heterogeneous. ‘Chronic bronchitis’ is a phenotype of COPD, which is a clinical diagnosis of a productive cough of ≥ 3 months for ≥ 2 consecutive years. Chronic bronchitis is associated with worse lung function, frequent exacerbations, recurrent hospitalisations and premature death in patients with COPD. Chronic bronchitis sufferers can be further subphenotyped into those who produce sputum during exacerbation or during winter months only and those who are ‘persistent sputum producers,’ who experience mucous hypersecretion throughout the year. An improved understanding of persistent sputum producers is the object of this thesis. Aims: 1) To compare the clinical characteristics and airway inflammatory biomarker profile of COPD persistent sputum producers to that of COPD sputum non-producers 2) To investigate the short term repeatability of sputum parameters in COPD persistent sputum producers 3) To study the expression and relationship of mucins, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α) and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) in COPD persistent sputum producers. Methods: 1) Lung physiology, health status, sputum inflammatory biomarkers and sputum culture results were compared between COPD persistent sputum producers and sputum non-producers 2) Repeatability of spontaneous and induced sputum parameters at 8 weeks was assessed in COPD persistent sputum producers 3) Immunohistochemistry was performed on bronchial biopsies of COPD persistent sputum producers and control groups (COPD sputum non-producers, smokers with normal lung function and lifelong healthy non-smokers with normal lung function) to study the expression of MUC5AC, MUC5B, HIF-1α and CAIX 4) The association between HIF-1α and MUC5B expression was investigated in vitro. Results and Conclusions: The findings suggest that 1) COPD persistent sputum producers have clinically more severe disease, increased airway inflammation, increased impact on health status, increased rate of bacterial colonization and higher number of exacerbations compared to COPD sputum non-producers 2) Induced sputum is repeatable over short term in COPD persistent sputum producers 3) Expression of MUC5B, HIF-1α and CAIX is increased in COPD persistent sputum producers compared to COPD sputum non-producers, smokers with normal lung function and healthy non-smokers 4) HIF-1α can potentially cause increased MUC5B expression. This work reveals potential targets for the development of novel therapies to limit mucous hypersecretion in COPD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607093 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Khurana, Shruti |
| Contributors | Singh, Sukh; Vestbo, Jorgen |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/lung-physiology-and-airway-inflammation-incopd-patients-with-persistent-sputum-production(b0f3374e-9a67-4ff9-a51e-d94eefa2f13c).html |
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