Serum Urokinase Plasminogen Activator as a Novel Biological Marker for COPD- A Review

Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a progressive disease of the airways is associated with chronic inflammation of respiratory passages that leads to irreversible lung dysfunction and distinct morphological changes. The progressive increase in airflow limitation that is seen in COPD is associated with systemic inflammation with the development of extra-pulmonary complications like muscle atrophy, cachexia and osteoporosis. Several biomarkers like C-Reactive Protein (CRP), fibrinogen and Interleukin have been used as an adjunct tool to diagnose COPD. Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) has been used as a diagnostic marker for congestive heart failure, sepsis, adult respiratory distress syndrome and acute exacerbation COPD. The present narrative review gives a brief overview on clinical significance of suPAR in the diagnosis and prognosis of COPD. The articles quoted in this review were taken from search engines like PubMed Central, Crossref, Web of Science and Google Scholar for articles published from 1991 to 2016, by using domain words like “COPD”, “suPAR”, “inflammation” and “prognosis”. The relevant references cited in these articles were also reviewed.

Keywords

• airflow
• complication
• irreversible
• inflammation
• progressive