TY - JOUR T1 - Circulating desmosine as a biomarker of azithromycin treatment response: a <em>post hoc</em> analysis of the COLUMBUS randomised controlled trial JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00136-2018 VL - 4 IS - 4 SP - 00136-2018 AU - James D. Chalmers AU - Remco S. Djamin AU - Marjolijn Schouten AU - Holly R. Keir AU - Brandon Tan AU - Joachim G.J.V. Aerts AU - Jeffrey T-J. Huang AU - Menno van der Eerden Y1 - 2018/10/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/4/4/00136-2018.abstract N2 - Elastin degradation in the lung, leading to emphysema, and elastin degradation in blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis, are key mechanisms in the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1]. Elastin degradation can be measured in blood through quantification of desmosine and its isomer iso-demosine, which are released specifically through cleavage of mature elastin [2]. Severe COPD is frequently associated with chronic neutrophil-mediated inflammation and airway microbial dysbiosis [3]. Neutrophils release harmful proteases through the processes of degranulation and neutrophil extracellular trap formation that degrade extracellular matrix, including elastin, leading to disease progression [3, 4].Circulating desmosine is not reduced by treatment with azithromycin in COPD but elevated desmosine may identify a patient group with a greater treatment response http://ow.ly/vN6N30mhBA1 ER -