Back to Journals » OncoTargets and Therapy » Volume 6

Measurement of exhaled alveolar nitrogen oxide in patients with lung cancer: a friend from the past still precious today

Authors Kallianos A, Tsimpoukis, Zarogoulidis P, Darwiche K, Charpidou, Tsioulis, Trakada G , Porpodis K, Spyratos D, Panoutsopoulos, Veletza L, Kostopoulos K, Kostopoulos C, Karapantzos I, Tsakiridis K, Hohenforst-Schmidt W, Zarogoulidis K, Rapti A, syrigos K

Received 16 February 2013

Accepted for publication 7 April 2013

Published 31 May 2013 Volume 2013:6 Pages 609—613

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S44087

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 6



Anastasios Kallianos,1 Sotirios Tsimpoukis,2 Paul Zarogoulidis,3 Kaid Darwiche,4 Andriani Charpidou,2 Ilias Tsioulis,3 Georgia Trakada,5 Konstantinos Porpodis,3 Dionysios Spyratos,3 Athanasios Panoutspoulos,5 Lemonia Veletza,5 Konstantinos Kostopoulos,5 Charalampos Kostopoulos,4 Ilias Karapantzos,6 Kosmas Tsakiridis,7 Wolfgang Hohenforst-Schmidt,8 Konstantinos Zarogoulidis,3 Aggeliki Rapti,1 Konstantinos Syrigos2

1Second Pulmonary Clinic, Sotiria Hospital, 2Oncology Unit, Sotiria Hospital, Athens, Greece; 3Oncology Unit, G Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece; 4Interventional Unit, Ruhrland Clinic, Essen, Germany; 5Pulmonary Laboratory, Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece; 6Ear, Nose, and Throat Department, Saint Luke Private Hospital, 7Cardiothoracic Department, Saint Luke Private Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece; 8II Medical Clinic, Hospital of Coburg, Coburg, Germany


Abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is a marker of airway inflammation and indirectly a general indicator of inflammation and oxidative stress. NO is a contributing factor in lung cancer at an early stage and also after chemotherapy treatment of lung cancer. We studied whether exhaled NO levels were altered by three cycles of chemotherapy at diagnosis and after chemotherapy, and whether, directly or indirectly, these changes were related to the course of disease. Also, a correlation of NO levels with other markers of inflammation was performed. We studied 42 patients diagnosed early: 26 men and 16 women with lung cancer. We analyzed blood tests for control of inflammatory markers, functional pulmonary tests, and alveolar exhaled NO. We recorded a decrease in exhaled NO after three cycles of chemotherapy in all patients, regardless of histological type and stage: there were 42 patients with mean 9.8 NO after three cycles (average 7.7). Also, a strong correlation appeared between NO measurements before and after chemotherapy and C-reactive protein (P < 0.05, r = 0.42, before) and (P < 0.045, r = 0.64, after). NO alveolar measurement as an indicator of airway inflammation indicates response to chemotherapy in lung cancer. Also, the inflammatory process in lung cancer was confirmed and indicated response to chemotherapy through an index that is sensitive to inflammatory disease of the airways.

Keywords: nitric oxide, lung cancer, inflammation

Creative Commons License © 2013 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.