NMR EBC metabonomic to assess the nutricecutic effect in COPD. A pilot study of oral administration of a curcumin based herbal preparation

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics of EBC is able to separate healthy subjects from patients affected by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), identifying profiles based on cellular oxidative pattern. It is unknown if EBC of COPD patients is altered by treatment of patients with specific exogenous nutrients, and if NMR spectroscopy is able to detect metabolic changes. In this preliminary open label study we evaluated the effect of daily oral administration of high dosage of a curcumin-based herbal preparation on EBC in a cohort of COPD patients by using NMR spectroscopy. 10 COPD (63.3 ± 7.9) patients were evaluated at baseline and after 12 weeks of oral administration of curcumin once a day, collecting during each visit EBC samples, clinical (breath, cough, sputum and night awakening, BSCN, score) data and spirometry. EBC collected from each patient (at the end of treatment and baseline) were different in NMR spectra profiles and in comparison with spectra of curcumin alone. Notably, a completely different profile is observed in treated patients, with many new resonances appearing in the spectra. Among clinical parameters, BSCN score was 4.9 ± 0.9 at baseline and 7.5 ± 1.0 at time 12 wks, while FEV1 values resulted slightly but not significantly increased at the end of treatment. NMR metabonomic is a sensitive method to explore the nutriceutic effects of antioxidant on EBC in patients of COPD