Comparative Study on Soluble Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor (SuPAR) and C-Reactive Protein (Crp) Levels in Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Rekha D¹, Priscilla Johnson^2*, Subhasis Das¹, Rajagopalan B³, Sathya GR¹ and Lavanya Sekhar²

¹Department of Physiology; Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry-605014, India.

²Department of Physiology; Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, SRIHER, Porur, Chennai- 600116, India.

³Department of Chest and TB; Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, SRIHER, Porur, Chennai- 600116, India

Corresponding Author Email: priscillajohnson@sriramachandra.edu.in

Abstract: Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by a progressive and irreversible airflow limitation. In COPD, the initial low-grade pulmonary inflammation slowly progress to systemic inflammation which is usually confirmed by non-specific inflammatory biomarker like C-reactive protein (CRP). However, the disease progress can be diagnosed at the early stage of pulmonary inflammation by using a novel biomarker, like Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) released from the respiratory epithelium in COPD. The objective of this study was to compare the serum levels of suPAR and CRP in stable COPD and to assess the progress of low-grade pulmonary inflammation in COPD. Methods: Stable COPD [SCOPD] study participants (male-35; female-15) and healthy controls (male-38; female-12) were recruited for the study after obtaining informed consent. Based on post-bronchodilator FEV1% predicted values as specified by GOLD criteria, SCOPD study participants were graded into grades I-IV. Serum suPAR and CRP assays were done for all the study participants. Results: The level of suPAR among SCOPD grades I-IV (4.03±0.40 ng/ml; 5.16 ±0.26 ng/ml; 5.82±0.17ng/ml; 6.39±0.07ng/ml respectively) were high compared to healthy control (1.84±0.90ng/ml) and  was statistically significant. The level of CRP  among SCOPD grade I-IV (3.30±0.13 ng/ml; 3.60 ±0.09 ng/ml; 3.91±0.12ng/ml; 4.41±0.10 ng/ml respectively) were high compared to healthy control (1.63±0.77ng/ml) and was statistically significant.. Conclusion: Our study indicated that serum suPAR  and CRP may play an important role in the inflammatory process of COPD particularly in grades III and IV SCOPD. Hence, serum suPAR and CRP measurements may be useful for the evaluation and prognosis of stable COPD.

Keywords: Biomarker; COPD; Inflammation; Pulmonary; suPAR

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