Resp Res
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial Observational Study
The value of blood cytokines and chemokines in assessing COPD.
Blood biomarkers are increasingly used to stratify high risk chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients; however, there are fewer studies that have investigated multiple biomarkers and replicated in multiple large well-characterized cohorts of susceptible current and former smokers. ⋯ When assessing smoking related pulmonary disease, biomarkers of inflammation such as IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and eotaxin may add additional modest predictive value on top of clinical variables alone.
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Observational Study
Extracellular histones are clinically relevant mediators in the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Extracellular histones were recently identified as an inflammatory mediator involved in the pathogenesis of various organ injuries. This study aimed to examine extracellular histone levels and their clinical implications in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients and to explore histone-mediated effects through ex-vivo investigations. ⋯ Extracellular histones in ARDS patients are excessively increased and may contribute to disease aggravation by inducing cellular damage and promoting systemic inflammation. Targeting extracellular histones may provide a promising approach for treating ARDS.
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Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) is an important regulator of virus-induced antiviral interferons (IFNs) and proinflammatory cytokines which participate in clearing viral infections. Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure increases the frequency and severity of respiratory tract infections. ⋯ Our results demonstrate that RIG-I overexpression in mice is protective for CS enhanced susceptibility of smokers to influenza infection, and that CS mediated RIG-I suppression may be partially responsible for the increased morbidity and mortality of the mice exposed to IAV. Thus, optimizing the RIG-I response may be an important treatment strategy for CS-enhanced lung infections, particularly those due to IAV.
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The role of differential cytology patterns in peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage samples is increasingly investigated as a potential adjunct to diagnose acute and chronic allograft dysfunction after lung transplantation. While these profiles might facilitate the diagnosis of acute cellular rejection, low sensitivity and specificity of these patterns limit direct translation in a clinical setting. ⋯ The value of these cytokines in supporting the diagnosis of acute cellular rejection is discussed. Current findings on the topic are highlighted and experimental settings for future research projects are identified.
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Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), which is the histological surrogate for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), has a multifactorial aetiology. Therefore it is possible that the immunopathology differs among the various presentations of DAD. The aim of this study is to compare lung immunopathology of viral (influenza A(H1N1)pdm09) to non-viral, extrapulmonary aetiologies in autopsy cases with DAD. ⋯ DAD due to viral A(H1N1)pdm09 is associated with a cytotoxic inflammatory phenotype, with partially divergent responses in the parenchyma relative to the small airways. In non-viral DAD, main immune cell alterations were found at the small airway level, reinforcing the role of the small airways in the pathogenesis of the exudative phase of DAD.