Sputum exosomes: promising biomarkers for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

• Published in: Thorax Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 309 - 312
• Main Authors: Njock, Makon-Sébastien, Guiot, Julien, Henket, Monique A, Nivelles, Olivier, Thiry, Marc, Dequiedt, Franck, Corhay, Jean-Louis, Louis, Renaud E, Struman, Ingrid
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society 01.03.2019; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Age; Ambulatory care; Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology; Biochimie, biophysique & biologie moléculaire; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - metabolism; Brief Communication; Case-Control Studies; Cytochrome; Disease; Exosomes - metabolism; Experiments; Female; Gene expression; Humans; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - diagnosis; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - etiology; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - metabolism; interstitial fibrosis; Life sciences; Male; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Patients; Principal components analysis; Pulmonary fibrosis; Sciences du vivant; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sputum - metabolism; Studies; interstitial fibrosis; idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• ISSN: 0040-6376; 1468-3296; 1468-3296
• DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2018-211897

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease of unknown aetiology which leads rapidly to death. As diagnosis of IPF is complex, we aimed to characterise microRNA (miRNA) content of exosomes from sputum of patients with IPF. Using miRNA quantitative PCR array, we found a substantial dysregulation of sputum exosomal miRNA levels between patients with IPF and healthy subjects and identified a unique signature of three miRNAs. Interestingly, we found a negative correlation between miR-142-3p and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide/alveolar volume. This is the first characterisation of miRNA content of sputum-derived exosomes in IPF that identified promising biomarkers for diagnosis and disease severity.