Elevated Prostaglandin E2 Levels in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of Patients with Bronchogenic Carcinoma

Understanding local pulmonary immunoregulatory mechanism(s) in patients with carcinoma of the lung is an important step towards the development of innovative methods of treatment. Prostaglandin E₂ plays an integral role in immunoregulation. Therefore, we evaluated PGE₂ concentrations in BALF from 18 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma, compared to that from six patients with pulmonary diseases other than carcinoma and ten normal smokers of similar age. The level of PGE₂ in patients with lung carcinoma (158.1±88.7 pg/ml) was significantly (p<0.001) higher than the other two groups (16.2±6.9 and 4.4±3.4 pg/ml). Levels of PGE₂ also varied among patients with carcinoma of different cell types. Patients with SQCA had significantly (p<0.001) higher levels of PGE₂ (242.7±29.4 pg/ml) than patients with ADCA or SCCA (82.3±27.9 and 66.3±15.2 pg/ml, respectively). Furthermore, there was a marked difference in PGE₂ concentration between carcinomatous lung and clinically noninvolved lung in patients with SQCA and ADCA. Further study is warranted to determine the interactions between PGE₂ and other cytokines (interleukin-1, IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor), as well as the activity of cytolytic lymphocytes (LAK cells) in the lungs of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma.