MEKC of desmosine and isodesmosine in urine of chronic destructive lung disease patients

Degradation of extracellular matrix components is central to many pathological features of chronic destructive lung disorders. Desmosine and isodesmosine are elastin-derived cross-linked amino acids whose urine levels are considered representative of elastin breakdown. The aim of this study was to apply a novel methodology, based on high-performance capillary electrophoresis, to the quantification of desmosine and isodesmosine in 11 patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 10 with an exacerbation of COPD, nine with α₁-antitrypsin deficiency, 13 with bronchiectasis, and 11 adults with cystic fibrosis, in comparison to 24 controls. It was found that, in patients with stable COPD, urinary desmosine levels were higher than in controls (p=0.03), but lower than in COPD subjects with an exacerbation (p≤0.05). The highest desmosine levels were found in subjects with α₁-antitrypsin deficiency, bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis (p1-antitrypsin deficiency suggest that this method might he used to evaluate the putative efficacy of replacement therapy. (C) ERS Journals Ltd 2000.