Carraro et al. measured asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) obtained from children with asthma and from healthy subjects. The authors demonstrated higher levels of ADMA in EBC of asthmatics compared to controls. ADMA levels in EBC did not correlate with serum levels, lung function parameters, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide. ADMA levels in EBC did not significantly differ between asthmatic patients regularly treated with inhaled steroids and those who were steroid naïve. Further studies are necessary in order to evaluate the role of this biomarker in the characterization of phenotypes of severe bronchial asthma.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The endothelial dysfunction likely plays a central role in increasing cardiovascular risk.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic progressive disease of lung interstitium of unknown etiology with poor prognosis. In patients with IPF, the incidence of lung cancer is much higher than that in the general population. The identification of noninvasive biomarkers for early diagnosis of IPF is of great relevance in consideration of the management of these patients. Among the noninvasive omic markers, an increasing interest has been directed toward the study of genetic alterations of microsatellites (MAs) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the MAs, located in chromosomal regions 8p21.3-q11.1 and 17q11.2-q21, that harbor tumor suppressor genes, in EBC and in the paired whole blood (WB) of IPF patients. Eleven IPF patients were compared with 10 healthy control subjects. All subjects underwent collection of the EBC and WB. The EBC was collected using a condenser. Four microsatellite markers (THRA1, D17S579, D17S250 and D8S137) were used for the analysis of MAs. The EBC-DNA and WB-DNA were amplified by PCR; PCR products were analyzed using the ABI Prism 310 DNA. Microsatellite alterations were found in 58.82 % of EBC-DNA and 12.50 % of WB-DNA in patients with IPF (p < 0.01). None of the healthy subjects exhibited MAs in the studied markers. Our findings suggest that these genetic alterations, studied in EBC, may play an important role in the complex genetic basis of IPF. Since these MAs are frequently detected in cancer, they might explain the higher relative risk of tumorigenesis in this disease.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiologic risk factor for cervical cancer. Some studies have suggested an association with a subset of lung tumors, but the etiologic link has not been firmly established. We performed an international pooled analysis of cross-sectional studies (27 datasets, n = 3249 patients) to evaluate HPV DNA prevalence in lung cancer and to investigate viral presence according to clinical and demographic characteristics. HPV16/18 were the most commonly detected, but with substantial variation in viral prevalence between geographic regions. The highest prevalence of HPV16/18 was observed in South and Central America, followed by Asia, North America and Europe (adjusted prevalence rates = 22, 5, 4 and 3%, respectively). Higher HPV16 prevalence was noted in each geographic region compared with HPV18, except in North America. HPV16/18-positive lung cancer was less likely observed among White race (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.12-0.90), whereas no associations were observed with gender, smoking history, age, histology or stage. Comparisons between tumor and normal lung tissue show that HPV was more likely to be present in lung cancer rather than normal lung tissues (OR = 3.86, 95% CI = 2.87-5.19). Among a subset of patients with HPV16-positive tumors, integration was primarily among female patients (93%, 13/14), while the physical status in male cases (N = 14) was inconsistent. Our findings confirm that HPV DNA is present in a small fraction of lung tumors, with large geographic variations. Further comprehensive analysis is needed to assess whether this association reflects a causal relationship.

BACKGROUND: Exhaled breath temperature (EBT) is a new non-invasive method for the study of inflammatory respiratory diseases with a potential to reach clinical practice. However, few studies, and mainly derived from small, paediatric populations, are available on the validation of the method and 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 (45.2±15.5 yrs, 143 male, FEV1 97.2±5.8%, FVC 98.4±3.9%) selected from 867 adult volunteers, in order to define reference values in healthy subjects and to analyse the influence of individual and external variables on this parameter. METHODS: We measured EBT with a X-halo PRO device to different ambient temperature that ranged from 0 to 38°C FINDINGS: We report reference value of EBT in healthy Caucasian never smoker subjects. EBT values are strongly influenced by the external temperature and to a lesser extent by gender. INTERPRETATION: These data provide reference values in a large population of healthy never smokers subjects for measuring EBT as a basis for future studies. Our results are a contribution to the promotion of the EBT from bench to bed side.

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.