A Pilot Feasibility Study of Detection of IL-11 and Other Cytokines in the Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC) and Blood of Healthy Volunteers

IL-11 is a receptor previously proven to be highly expressed in human lungs with idiopathic lung fibrosis, and in animal model, IL-11 receptor neutralizing antibody has been shown to prevent the process of fibrosis in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in rats. Separately, investigators know the expression of IL-11 can be detected in human by measuring its expression in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and serum. With the sera obtained, investigators will examine a whole range of other interleukins which had been implicated in mammalian lung fibrosis. Investigators aim to measure IL-11 in a pilot of human volunteers (healthy). This is important to subsequently see if IL-11 expression is increased in patients with a range of fibrotic diseases, with the potential to be used as diagnostic tool as well and to select patients who may benefit from IL-11 neutralizing antibody to delay/ cure their lung fibrosis including patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), drug/ radiation induced fibrosis and possibly even lung fibrosis as a chronic sequelae of COVID infection. IL-11 also has been shown to be highly relevant in cardiac patients- including chronic heart failure patients. Having reference ranges for IL-11 in the blood and EBC of healthy human volunteers will also be useful in future drug trials for IL-11 antibodies for future cardiac studies.