thromboxane-b2 and Sarcoidosis

The present study was designed to assess the occurrence of small airways disease (SAD) in non-smoking sarcoidosis patients by pulmonary function measurement; and to investigate the possible mechanisms of SAD by measuring the in vitro production of arachidonic acid metabolites (PGE2 and LTB4) by peripheral blood mononucleocytes from sarcoidosis patients. SAD did in fact occur in 15 of the 32 sarcoid patients studied. The increase in LTB4 and decrease in PGE2 observed in SAD patients could imply a causative role for these arachidonic acid metabolites in SAD.

Topics: Arachidonic Acids; Dinoprostone; Forced Expiratory Flow Rates; Humans; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Monocytes; Prostaglandins E; Sarcoidosis; Thromboxane B2

Prostaglandins are known to be secreted into body fluids. Arachidonic acid cyclooxygenase metabolites (AACM), including prostaglandin E (PGE), prostacyclin, and thromboxane, were measured in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in 11 patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis and 7 healthy volunteers. Using a quantitative technique, we found no difference in the amount of PGE per milliliter lung fluid between the sarcoid group (1,950 +/- 1,507.4 pg/ml lung fluid, mean +/- SD) and the control group (2,112 +/- 932.3 pg/ml lung fluid). In patients with sarcoidosis, there was a positive correlation between the number of lymphocytes in the BAL fluid and the amount of PGE and prostacyclin per milliliters of lung fluid (r = 0.71 and r = 0.81, p less than 0.01), but not thromboxane.

Topics: 6-Ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha; Adult; Body Fluids; Epoprostenol; Female; Humans; Lung Diseases; Male; Middle Aged; Prostaglandins E; Sarcoidosis; Therapeutic Irrigation; Thromboxane B2; Thromboxanes