Cytokine profiles associated with disease severity and prognosis of autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is characterized by an abnormal accumulation of surfactants in the alveoli. Most cases are classified as autoimmune PAP (APAP) because they are associated with autoantibodies against granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). However, GM-CSF autoantibody levels are unlikely to correlate with the disease severity or prognosis of APAP. METHODS: We collected clinical records and measured 38 serum cytokine concentrations for consecutive patients with APAP. After exclusion of 21 cytokines because of undetectable levels, 17 cytokine levels were compared between low and high disease severity scores (DSSs). We also compared whole lung lavage (WLL)-free survival with cut-off values defined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of cytokine levels and WLL administration at 11 months. RESULTS: Nineteen patients with APAP were enrolled in the study. Five were classified as DSS 1 or 2, while the others were classified as DSS 4 or 5. Comparison between DSS 1-2 and 4-5 revealed that the concentrations of IP-10 and GRO increased in the latter groups (p < 0.05). Fifteen patients underwent WLL. Comparison between those who underwent WLL within 11 months and the others showed that IP-10 and TNF-α were tended to be elevated in the former group (p = 0.082 and 0.057, respectively). The cut-off values of IP-10, 308.8 pg/mL and TNF-α, 19.1 pg/mL, defined by the ROC curves, significantly separated WLL-free survivals with log-rank analyses (p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The concentrations of IP-10 and GRO may reflect the DSSs of APAP. A combination of IP-10 and TNF-α levels could be a biomarker to predict WLL-free survival.

Proteinosis alveolar pulmonar en pacientes hematológicos: reporte de 2 casos / Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis in hematologic patients: report of a cases

La proteinosis alveolar pulmonar (PAP) es un raro trastorno caracterizado por la acumulación de material proteináceo en los alvéolos pulmonares de los individuos afectados. En pacientes con enfermedades hematológicas se ha reportado una incidencia de PAP de 5,3 porciento, de los cuales el 10 porciento corresponde a trastornos en las líneas granulopoyéticas. Esta entidad se ha comunicado también en el curso de las leucemias mieloides crónicas (LMC). En este trabajo comunicamos 2 casos de pacientes hematológicos, el primero de una paciente femenina de 54 años con una LMC fallecida por un cuadro de insuficiencia respiratoria; el segundo una paciente de 49 años portadora de una aplasia medular posterior a tratamiento con cloranfenicol, que presentó síntomas de infecciones respiratorias a repetición hasta su ingreso final y fallecimiento. Ambas pacientes se diagnosticaron en el estudio necrópsico. Se realizó revisión de la literatura(AU)