Thorax
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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an untreatable lung disease with a median survival of only 3-5 years that is diagnosed using a combination of clinical, radiographic and pathologic criteria. Histologically, IPF is characterised by usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), a fibrosing interstitial pneumonia with a pattern of heterogeneous, subpleural regions of fibrotic and remodelled lung. We hypothesised that gene expression profiles of lung tissue may identify molecular subtypes of disease that could classify subtypes of IPF/UIP that have clinical implications. ⋯ Expression of cilium genes appears to identify two unique molecular phenotypes of IPF/UIP. The different molecular profiles may be relevant to therapeutic responsiveness in patients with IPF/UIP.
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Recent evidence indicates that human regulatory T cells (Tregs) are composed of three distinct subpopulations: CD25(++) CD45RA(+) resting Tregs (rTregs), CD25(+++) CD45RA(-) activated Tregs (aTregs), which are suppressive, and CD25(++) CD45RA(-) cytokine-secreting (Fr III) cells with pro-inflammatory capacity. ⋯ The imbalance between the anti-inflammatory subsets (aTreg+rTreg) and the pro-inflammatory subset (Fr III) of Tregs may play an important role in COPD progression.