American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jun 2016
Alveolar-like Stem Cell-derived Myb(neg) Macrophages Promote Recovery and Survival in Airway Disease.
Abnormal alveolar macrophages (AM) are found in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, cystic fibrosis, and adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA(-/-)). There is no specific treatment strategy to compensate for these innate immune abnormalities. Recent findings suggest AMs are of early embryonic or fetal origin. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) as a source of embryonic-derived AMs for therapeutic use in acute and chronic airway diseases has yet to be investigated. ⋯ PSCs are a reliable source to produce therapeutically active alveolar-like macrophages to treat airway disease.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jun 2016
Impairment of Immunoproteasome Function by Cigarette Smoke and in COPD.
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and in particular smokers are more susceptible to respiratory infections contributing to acute exacerbations of disease. The immunoproteasome is a specialized type of proteasome destined to improve major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-mediated antigen presentation for the resolution of intracellular infections. ⋯ We here show that the activity of the immunoproteasome is impaired by cigarette smoke resulting in reduced MHC I antigen presentation. Regulation of immunoproteasome function by cigarette smoke may thus alter adaptive immune responses and add to prolonged infections and exacerbations in COPD and IPF.