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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
Bronchoalveolar Lavage of Murine Lungs to Analyze Inflammatory Cell Infiltration
Published on: May 4, 2017
Interleukin-22 is elevated in lavage from patients with lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases
Amanda Tufman1,2, Rudolf Maria Huber3,4, Stefanie Völk5,4
1Division of Respiratory Medicine and Thoracic Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine V, Thoracic Oncology Centre Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Ziemssenstraße 1, 80336, Munich, Germany. amanda.tufman@med.uni-muenchen.de.
Background:
Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is involved in lung diseases such as pneumonia, asthma and lung cancer. Lavage mirrors the local environment, and may provide insights into the presence and role of IL-22 in patients.
Methods:
Bronchoscopic lavage (BL) samples (n = 195, including bronchoalveolar lavage and bronchial washings) were analysed for IL-22 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Clinical characteristics and parameters from lavage and serum were correlated with lavage IL-22 concentrations.
Results:
IL-22 was higher in lavage from patients with lung disease than in controls (38.0 vs 15.3 pg/ml, p < 0.001). Patients with pneumonia and lung cancer had the highest concentrations (48.9 and 33.0 pg/ml, p = 0.009 and p < 0.001, respectively). IL-22 concentration did not correlate with systemic inflammation. IL-22 concentrations did not relate to any of the analysed cell types in BL indicating a potential mixed contribution of different cell populations to IL-22 production.
Conclusions:
Lavage IL-22 concentrations are high in patients with lung cancer but do not correlate with systemic inflammation, thus suggesting that lavage IL-22 may be related to the underlying malignancy. Our results suggest that lavage may represent a distinct compartment where the role of IL-22 in thoracic malignancies can be studied.
