Comparison of serum cytokine profiles among biomass- and tobacco smoke induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in a South Indian population: A pilot study

Rationale: Biomass (BM) smoke induced household air pollution (HAP) is a risk factor for COPD. Crude estimates suggest about 30 million COPD patients in India. Although tobacco smoke (TS) is the predominant COPD risk factor world-wide, in India, despite male to female smoking ratio being 10:1, the corresponding COPD ratio is 1.5:1. This is mainly attributed to high BM-HAP exposure among poor rural women who are also the primary cook of the family. It is plausible that the underlying molecular patho-mechanisms of BM-COPD and TS-COPD may also be different. Therefore in this study we investigated the serum cytokine signature of BM-COPD and TS-COPD patients in a South Indian (Mysuru) population. Methods: All procedures were approved by the institutional ethical committee (JSSMC/IEC/13/4048/2016-2017) of JSS Medical College and Hospital, India. COPD was diagnosed according to the GOLD 2012 guidelines. Serum cytokine profiles of 27 subjects: TS-COPD (n=13, male); asymptomatic smokers (n=4, male); BM-COPD (n=5, female); BM exposed without COPD (n=5, female) were assessed using the 40-plex inflammatory marker panel (Biorad: #171AK99MR2). Results: CCL27, CXCL2, CCL23 and CXCL16 were increased among TS-COPD cases compared to asymptomatic smokers (p Conclusion: Our preliminary data indicates specific serum cytokine signature among TS-COPD and BM-COPD patients that warrants further investigation in larger cohort. Acknowledgement: DBT-India BT/PR12987/INF/22/205/2015