[Procollagen type 111 peptide levels in patients with bronchial asthma and COPD]

The aim of these study was to evaluate if the inflammatory injury of parenchymal cells can lead to proliferation of fibroblasts and deposition of increased amounts of collagen, measured by the increased concentration of procollagen in blood, in patients with asthma and COPD. We evaluated 22 patients with asthma that has lasted more than 5 years, 18 patients with COPD and 20 healthy subjects. RIA-gnost method (Behring) was used to measure the procollagen peptide concentrations in blood. Our results showed that the concentration of procollagen peptide in blood samples from patients with asthma was 5.8 +/- 2.4, 4.9 +/- 1.8 in patients with COPD and 11.1 +/- 3.6 in healthy subjects. There was no significant difference between patients with asthma, COPD and healthy subjects (p less than 0.01). It can be concluded that there is no increased deposition of collagen in patients with long lasting asthma and COPD. Further studies of active collagen deposition in the early acute forms of these diseases are in progress.