Pentraxin 3 sputum levels differ in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease vs asthma

Immune response has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a multifunctional pattern recognition protein and an important component of the innate immune system that can be assessed in blood and induced sputum.

To determine whether PTX3 measured in induced sputum could discriminate patients with COPD from patients with asthma.

A cross-sectional study of 68 participants (27 with COPD, 25 with asthma, and 16 healthy controls) was performed. At study inclusion sputum was collected and total and differential cell numbers and PTX3 levels were determined.

Pentraxin 3 was detected in 89% of patients with COPD, 56% of patients with asthma, and 19% of controls (P = .001). It discriminated participants with COPD (24.6 ng/mL, 0-384 ng/mL) from controls (0 ng/mL, 0-36 ng/mL, P < .001) and from participants with asthma (1.2 ng/mL, 0-100 ng/mL, P = .01; area under the receiver operating curve 0.82 [0.71-0.94]). Regression analyses determined that sputum PTX3 and neutrophil counts were independently associated with COPD. In addition, PTX3 levels were independently associated with COPD severity.

Pentraxin 3 sputum levels are increased in patients with COPD and has good power to discriminate these patients from patients with asthma and healthy individuals.