• Tanja H Geelen, Giel R Gaajetaan, Emiel F Wouters, Gernot G Rohde, Frits M Franssen, Gert E Grauls, Ellen E Stobberingh, Cathrien A Bruggeman, and Frank R Stassen.
• Department of Medical Microbiology, NUTRIM, Maastricht University Medical Centre, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: T.Geelen@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
• Respir Med. 2014 Jan 1; 108 (1): 144-52.

BackgroundThere is compelling evidence that infections with non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) are associated with exacerbations in COPD patients. However, NTHi has also been isolated frequently during clinically stable disease. In this study we tested the hypothesis that genetically distinct NTHi isolates obtained from COPD patients differ in virulence which could account for dissimilarities in the final outcome of an infection (stable vs. exacerbation).ResultsNTHi isolates (n = 32) were obtained from stable COPD patients, or during exacerbations. Genetically divergent NTHi isolates were selected and induction of inflammation was assessed as an indicator of virulence using different in vitro models. Despite marked genomic differences among NTHi isolates, in vitro studies could not distinguish between NTHi isolates based on their inflammatory capacities. Alternatively, when using a whole blood assay results demonstrated marked inter-, but not intra-individual differences in cytokine release between healthy volunteers irrespective of the origin of the NTHi isolate used.ConclusionResults suggest that the individual immune reactivity might be an important predictor for the clinical outcome (exacerbation vs. no exacerbation) following NTHi infection.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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