Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases
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The availability of high-throughput genotyping and large collaborative clinical networks creating well-characterized patient populations with DNA repositories has facilitated genome-wide scans and candidate gene studies to identify susceptibility alleles for the development of interstitial lung disease. The association of pulmonary fibrosis with rare inherited disorders, and the variable susceptibility of inbred mouse strains to this disease indicate that pulmonary fibrosis is determined by genetic factors. Sarcoidosis represents a complex disease with racial and ethnic differences in disease prevalence, and evidence of familial clustering. ⋯ Candidate gene studies indicate that surfactant protein C and telomerase are susceptibility genes for the development of pulmonary fibrosis. Future challenges include determining how multiple susceptibility alleles interact with each other and environmental factors resulting in disease risk and multiple phenotypes, and determining the mechanism of action and cellular pathways involving susceptibility alleles. Further insight into these areas may lead to new therapeutic interventions.
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Endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) has been shown to frequently complicate bronchial stenosis, a condition which can induce dyspnea as a result of airway obstruction, and is also frequently misdiagnosed as either bronchial asthma or lung cancer. ⋯ Elevated IFN-gamma and TGF-beta levels in the BWF of the EBTB patients may be related to EBTB pathogenesis. Lowered initial serum TGF-beta levels as well as the observed changes in the levels of TGF-beta in the serum after treatment have been implicated in bronchial fibrostenosis during the course of the disease.
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Comparative Study
Nitric oxide and exhaled breath nitrite/nitrates in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.
Measurement of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrite/nitrates (NOx) levels in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) are non-invasive techniques, which can be used to monitor airway inflammatory diseases. Production of NO is often increased in inflammatory diseases of the airways, including exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD-associated airway inflammation may be affected by multiple factors, including cigarette smoking and glucocorticosteroid (GCS) treatment. ⋯ COPD patients have higher exhaled NO levels than control subjects when either combined or analysed as non-smoking, ex-smoking and smoking subgroups. GCS treatment did not appear to affect these non-invasive markers of airway inflammation in COPD.
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Several studies have implicated the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of lung damage in idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). Investigations of inflammatory cells in IIP have show that eosinophils, neutrophils and T cells may be associated with a poorer prognosis. ⋯ The total density of inflammatory cells and lymphocytes presents a different distribution within the pulmonary parenchyma in AIP/DAD, NSIP/NSIP and IPF/UIP evolutionary adapted responses to injury. There is a localized distribution of inflammation in the normal, intervening and dense fibrosis areas of UIP for CD3+, associated with a lethal deterioration of the pulmonary function and poor survival. Our findings provide further evidence of the importance of inflammation in the pathophysiology of IIPs.
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It is important to detect preinvasive bronchial lesions before they become invasive cancer, because detection of early cancer is expected to lead to a cure. Autofluorescence bronchoscopy is a useful device in the detection of preinvasive and cancerous lesions. Recently, a new autofluorescence bronchoscopic system, autofluorescence imaging (AFI) system, has been developed. ⋯ AFI is an effective system for the detection of precancerous and cancerous lesions.