Review Article

Exhaled Breath Condensate: Technical and Diagnostic Aspects

Table 1

Changes of exhaled breath condensate biomarkers in asthma.

BiomarkersStable asthmaUnstable asthma

pH  [45, 7173] 
[6265]
after ICS treatment [66, 69, 72]
in GERD [63, 116, 117],   after lansoprazole
in GERD [118], after lansoprazole
[62, 6668]

H2O2 [74] correlated with FEV1
[75] correlated with severity, FEV1, and after treatment with corticosteroids

LTs [15, 76, 8087]
 Cys-LTs in EIB, before exercise [78] Cys-LTs after OCS treatment [89]
in EIB, 10 min after exercise [78]
 LTE4 but after ICS treatment [82]

8-Isoprostane but after ICS, OCS treatment [82, 93, 94]

PGE2Nonsmokers: [15, 82, 94]
smokers: [95]

ILs
 IL-4 [96101]
 IL-5 [102]
 IL-6 [97100, 103]
 IL-8 [104]
 IL-10 [70]
 IL-17 [104]

INF-γ in paediatric population [96]

RANTES [104, 106, 107]
correlated with FEV1 and Raw [104]
[106, 107]

MIP1α, MIP1β in steroid naive adults [104]

TNF-α, TGF-β, correlated with nonspecific BHR(PC) [104]

ET-1 [106, 107] [106, 107]

Cytokeratine 1 in paediatric population [109]

MDA, after ICS treatment [110]

ADMA In paediatric population [111]

CCL11 [112] [112]
after omalizumab therapy in severe asthmatic patients [113]

hs-CRP correlated with FeNO and serum hs-CRP [114] correlated with FeNO and serum hs-CRP [114]

sICAM-1 related to bronchial asthma manifestation in paediatric population [115]

= increase, = reduction, = no significant change, and [] = corresponding reference.
ICS = inhaled corticosteroids, GERD = gastroesophageal reflux, H2O2 = hydrogen peroxide, LTs = leukotrienes, PGE2 = prostaglandin-E2, EIB = exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, OCS = oral corticosteroids, ILs = interleukins, INF-γ = interferon-γ, MIP = macrophage inflammatory proteins, TNF-a = tumor necrosis factor-a, TGF-β = transforming growth factor-β, BHR(PC) = bronchial hyperresponsiveness(provocative concentration), ET-1 = endothelin-1, SPs = surfactant proteins, MDA = malondialdehyde, ADMA = asymmetric dimethylarginine, CCL11 = eotaxin-1, hs-CRP = high sensitivity c-reactive protein, and sICAM-1 = solute intercellular adhesion molecule-1.