Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasingly recognized as a systemic disease that is associated with increased serum levels of markers of systemic inflammation. The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM-1) is a recently identified activating receptor on neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophage subsets. TREM-1 expression is upregulated by microbial products such as the toll-like receptor ligand lipoteichoic acid of Gram-positive or lipopolysaccharides of Gram-negative bacteria. In the present study, sera from 12 COPD patients (GOLD stages I–IV,<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E1"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>FEV</mml:mtext></mml:mrow><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>51<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E2"><mml:mo>±</mml:mo></mml:math>6%) and 10 healthy individuals were retrospectively analyzed for soluble TREM-1 (sTREM-1) using a newly developed ELISA. In healthy subjects, sTREM-1 levels were low (median 0.25 ng/mL, range 0–5.9 ng/mL). In contrast, levels of sTREM-1 in sera of COPD patients were significantly increased (median 11.68 ng/mL, range 6.2–41.9 ng/mL,<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E3"><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo><</mml:mo><mml:mn>.05</mml:mn></mml:math>). Furthermore, serum levels of sTREM-1 showed a significant negative correlation with lung function impairment. In summary, serum concentrations of sTREM-1 are increased in patients with COPD. Prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the relevance of sTREM-1 as a potential marker of the disease in patients with COPD.</jats:p>