Pulmonary function, serum markers of inflammation, and IgG antibodies to core lipopolysaccharide of Burkholderia cepacia in adults with cystic fibrosis, following colonization with Burkholderia cepacia

Eight patients with cystic fibrosis [CF] colonized with Pseudomonas aerugin osa (P. aeruginosa) had serial lung function, peripheral blood inflammatory markers, and serum IgG antibodies to Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia) lip opolysaccharide measured in the months preceding and following colonisation with B. cepacia. One patient experienced a fall in FEV1 from 33% to 19% of predicted values, coinciding with the first sputum isolation of B. cepacia, and he died 12 w eeks later. He had a rise in inflammatory markers preterminally, and this c hange was refractory to antibiotic therapy. There was no significant fall i n FEV1 % of predicted values in the remaining seven patients, and no signif icant changes in their serum markers of inflammation following colonization with B. cepacia over a median (range) period of 10.9 (7.3-12.0) months. (C ) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.