Treating COPD With Inhaled Steroids: Killing Two Birds With One Stone?

Main Category: COPD
Article Date: 30 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the five leading causes of death worldwide. It is characterised by an inflammatory response to inhaled fumes (mostly tobacco smoking) that leads, in the long term, to the loss of lung function, limiting airflow and causing shortness of breath.

Patients affected by COPD often suffer episodes of worsening of symptoms called acute exacerbations, mostly caused by bacterial infections. These episodes of exacerbation impact negatively on the health status of the patients, worsen their prognosis and are associated with a very significant social and economic cost.

Treatment with inhaled steroids, such as fluticasone propionate, reduces the frequency and severity of acute exacerbations in patients with COPD, but their role in controlling bacterial infection is controversial.

In healthy subjects the lung is sterile, but in patients with COPD it is not and bacteria like S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae are frequently isolated.

This study by Sebastian Albertí (Institut Universitari d'Investigacions en Ciències de la Salut, IUNICS, Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and colleagues focuses on the direct effect of fluticasone propionate on the interaction of these pathogens with the lung epithelium, using mice models and in vitro human cell cultures. The authors demonstrate that, under the effects of fluticasone propionate, the capacity of those major pathogens to invade the respiratory epithelium is significantly decreased.

Therefore, this work provides another clue for the understanding of the beneficial effects of fluticasone propionate in COPD patients.

TITLE OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Fluticasone propionate reduces bacterial airway epithelial invasion

The European Respiratory Journal

The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 8,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and Australia).

http://erj.ersjournals.com

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