Viral colonization in exhaled breath condensate of lung cancer patients: Possible role of EBV and CMV.

INTRODUCTION: Today, an increasing interest is being addressed to the viral etiology of lung tumors. As a consequence, research efforts are currently being directed to the identification of the new viruses involved in lung carcinogenesis toward which the screening programs could be directed. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the airways colonization by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Citomegalovirus (CMV) in patients affected by lung cancer using, as a respiratory non-invasive sample, the exhaled breath condensate (EBC). METHODS: About 70 lung-cancer patients and 40 controls were enrolled. All subjects underwent bronchial brushing and EBC collection. EBV-DNA and CMV-DNA were evaluated in both samples by real-time PCR assay. RESULTS: They were able to detect EBV and CMV in the EBC. An increase of the EBV positivity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients compared with controls and of the CMV in advanced stages of lung cancer were observed. The association of the positivity of the cytology and the CMV test (in EBC or brushing) slightly increased the sensitivity of malignant diagnosis. CONCLUSION: EBV and CMV resulted detectable in the EBC. In consideration of the potential involvement of these viruses in lung cancer, which was confirmed in this study, future studies in this direction were supported.

Validation of the Exhaled Breath Temperature Measure: Reference Values in Healthy Subjects.

BACKGROUND: Exhaled breath temperature (EBT) is a new noninvasive method for the study of inflammatory respiratory diseases with a potential to reach clinical practice. However, few studies are available regarding the validation of this method, and they were mainly derived from small, pediatric populations; thus, the range of normal values is not well established. The aim of this study was to measure EBT values in an Italian population of 298 subjects (mean age, 45.2 ± 15.5 years; 143 male subjects; FEV1, 97.2% ± 5.8%; FVC, 98.4% ± 3.9%) selected from 867 adult volunteers to define reference values in healthy subjects and to analyze the influence of individual and external variables on this parameter. METHODS: EBT was measured with an X-halo PRO device to different ambient temperature ranging from 0°C to 38°C. RESULTS: We report reference values of EBT in healthy white subjects who had never smoked. EBT values were strongly influenced by the external temperature and to a lesser extent according to sex. CONCLUSIONS: In a large population of healthy subjects who never smoked, these data provide reference values for measuring EBT as a basis for future studies. Our results are contribute to the promotion of EBT from "bench" to "bedside."

Is the Exhaled Breath Temperature Sensitive to Cigarette Smoking?

The smoking habit is accompanied by an acute inflammatory response which follows tissue injury. It would be desirable to find a non-invasive inflammatory marker that would simplify the task of studying and monitoring smokers more simply and allow us to identify populations at risk of contracting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Today's expectations regarding research focus on issues ranging from inflammatory markers to those of exhaled breath temperature (EBT) are considerable. That said, although the EBT has been largely studied in asthma and COPD, there have not been any studies thus far that have analysed the effect of cigarette smoking on the EBT. Bearing this in mind, in this longitudinal study we aim to analyse the EBT in current smokers, monitor the effects both of cigarette smoking on EBT and of what happens after smoking cessation. Twenty-five (25) smokers (59.5 ± 3.1 yrs, 12 M) who participated in a multi-disciplinary smoking cessation programme and 25 healthy never-smokers (58.7 ± 2.9, 13 M) underwent EBT measurement. EBT values were higher in smokers before smoking (T0) than in never-smokers [34.6 (34.2-35) vs 33.2 (32.4-33.7)°C, p < 0.001. The smokers repeated measurement 5 minutes after smoking a cigarette (T1) and 2 hours after (T2). They repeated EBC measurement after 1 week (T3) and then after 3 months (T4) from smoking cessation. EBT is higher in smokers compared to controls. EBT increases after cigarette smoking and progressively decreases with the increase of time from when the last cigarette was smoked. Thus, we can conclude that EBT is increased in smokers and also sensitive to the acute effect of cigarette smoke.

Exhaled HPV infection in lung cancer: role of MA at 3p.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lung cancer has recently been associated with human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. The most important event associated with HPV infection in cancer foresees HPV DNA integration into the host genome. Sites of integration such as the fragile site FRA3B adjacent to the FHIT frequently undergo microsatellite alterations (MAs). In this study we aim to verify the role of MAs at 3p in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with HPV positivity and eventual correlation with sex, histotype, TNM stage and cigarette smoking. METHODS: We enrolled 26 NSCLC patients previously investigated for the presence of HPV in their airways (11 HPV+ and 15 HPV-). All subjects had allelotyping analysis of DNA from exhaled breath condensate (EBC), blood and bronchial brushing of microsatellite D3S1300 located in the chromosomal region 3p. RESULTS: For the first time we described the presence of MAs at 3p in EBC of NSCLC patients with HPV positivity. MAs in EBC corresponded to those in paired brushing. The number of patients with 3p MAs was higher in the group of NSCLC with HPV positivity than with HPV negativity. No relationship between the presence and type of MAs in EBC-brushing/DNA and sex, histotype or tumor stage was found. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that MAs at 3p are present in caucasic NSLC HPV+ patients and might be involved in lung carcinogenesis. In consideration of the possible clinical usefulness of the analysis of MAS at 3p in the EBC of HPV+ patients in the non-invasive screening for lung cancer, these results merit further studies.