Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 154, No. 6, 12 1996, 1706-1711.
Antioxidant activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from patients with lung cancer
B Melloni, MA Lefebvre, F Bonnaud, A Vergnenegre, L Grossin, M Rigaud and A Cantin
Service de Pathologie Respiratoire, Hopital du Cluzeau, CHU Limoges, France.
Glutathione (GSH) is one of the key components of the lung antioxidant
defenses. Chronic smokers have higher GSH concentrations in their
epithelial lining fluid than do nonsmokers. The aim of this study was to
compare antioxidant concentrations in epithelial lining fluid (ELF) from
nonsmokers, smokers with, and smokers without non-small-cell lung cancer.
The study found that GSH in ELF from patients with lung cancer was
significantly greater than in ELF from smokers and nonsmokers, at 1,485.5
+/- 208, 544 +/- 97.6 microM, and 339.3 +/- 112 microM, respectively (p
< 0.05). In contrast, superoxide dismutase (SOD) was lower in ELF from
patients with lung cancer than in that from smokers and nonsmokers, at 3.52
+/- 0.99, 30.82 +/- 8.2, and 43.91 +/- 10.1 U/ml, respectively (p <
0.05). Spontaneous superoxide anion release by adherent alveolar
macrophages (AM) showed no difference between smokers with and without lung
cancer. These data indicate that patients with lung cancer have marked
modifications in their ELF antioxidant defenses by comparison with those of
smokers. It is difficult to distinguish whether changed antioxidant status
is a primary disturbance involved in the cancer process or whether it is a
consequence of the neoplastic changes in malignancy.
