Respiratory Viral Infections in Adults With and Without Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACKGROUND: Epidemics of hospitalization for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) occur annually during the Christmas holidays, and COPD exacerbations commonly coincide with respiratory viral infections.OBJECTIVE: To compare the incidence and determinants of COPD exacerbations occurring between the Christmas holiday period and the remainder of the winter season.METHODS: Seventy-one subjects with COPD of mixed severity faxed daily symptom diaries to a computer monitoring system from December 1, 2006, to April 30, 2007. Possible exacerbations prompted a home visit for assessment, spirometry and specimen collection for virological testing.RESULTS: Study subjects submitted a total of 95.4% of possible daily symptom diary sheets by fax. Of 114 possible COPD exacerbations detected using the faxed diaries, 110 met the Anthonisen criteria for true exacerbations. A total of 47 exacerbations (mean 6.7/week) occurred during the Christmas holiday period, while 63 exacerbations (mean 4.3/week) occurred during the remainder of winter. Of the Christmas period exacerbations and of those in the balance of winter, 21 (44%) and 20 (32%), respectively, coincided with respiratory viral infections.CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of COPD exacerbations during the Christmas period was greater than during the rest of winter in 2006/2007 and peaked immediately before Christmas – in contrast to hospital presentation for COPD, which peaked during the Christmas week. No clear role of respiratory viral infections in the increased rate of exacerbations during the Christmas period was established in the present study. COPD patients were highly compliant with daily symptom reporting using faxed daily diaries, which permitted nearly complete detection of all exacerbations that occurred at incidence.

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Role of Viral Infections in Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology ◽

10.1165/rcmb.2006-0199tr ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 35 (5) ◽

pp. 513-518 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

David Proud ◽

Chung-Wai Chow

Keyword(s):

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Pulmonary Disease ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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Viral infections in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine ◽

10.1097/mcp.0b013e3282f4a99f ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 89-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Jay B Varkey ◽

Basil Varkey

Keyword(s):

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Pulmonary Disease ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients Have Increased Levels of Plasma Inflammatory Mediators Reported Upregulated in Severe COVID-19

Frontiers in Immunology ◽

10.3389/fimmu.2021.678661 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Nathalie Acevedo ◽

Jose Miguel Escamilla-Gil ◽

Héctor Espinoza ◽

Ronald Regino ◽

Jonathan Ramírez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Pulmonary Disease ◽

Plasma Proteins ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Asthmatic Patients ◽

Copd Patients ◽

Increased Risk

BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19, but the mechanisms are unclear. Besides, patients with severe COVID-19 have been reported to have increased levels of several immune mediators.MethodsNinety-two proteins were quantified in 315 plasma samples from 118 asthmatics, 99 COPD patients and 98 healthy controls (age 40-90 years), who were recruited in Colombia before the COVID-19 pandemic. Protein levels were compared between each disease group and healthy controls. Significant proteins were compared to the gene signatures of SARS-CoV-2 infection reported in the “COVID-19 Drug and Gene Set Library” and with experimentally tested protein biomarkers of severe COVID-19.ResultsForty-one plasma proteins showed differences between patients and controls. Asthmatic patients have increased levels in IL-6 while COPD patients have a broader systemic inflammatory dysregulation driven by HGF, OPG, and several chemokines (CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, CX3CL1, CXCL1, MCP-3, MCP-4, CCL3, CCL4 and CCL11). These proteins are involved in chemokine signaling pathways related with response to viral infections and some, were found up-regulated upon SARS-CoV-2 experimental infection of Calu-3 cells as reported in the COVID-19 Related Gene Sets database. An increase of HPG, CXCL9, CXCL10, IL-6, MCP-3, TNF and EN-RAGE has also been experimentally detected in patients with severe COVID-19.ConclusionsCOPD patients have altered levels of plasma proteins that have been reported increased in patients with severe COVID-19. Our study suggests that COPD patients have a systemic dysregulation in chemokine networks (including HGF and CXCL9) that could make them more susceptible to severe COVID-19. Also, that IL-6 levels are increased in some asthmatic patients (especially in females) and this may influence their response to COVID-19. The findings in this study depict a novel panel of inflammatory plasma proteins in COPD patients that may potentially associate with increased susceptibility to severe COVID-19 and might be useful as a biomarker signature after future experimental validation.

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