Ex Vivo Artifacts and Histopathologic Pitfalls in the Lung.

Context: Surgical and pathologic handling of lung physically affects lung tissue. This leads to artifacts that alter the morphologic appearance of pulmonary parenchyma.

Objective: To describe and illustrate mechanisms of ex vivo artifacts that may lead to diagnostic pitfalls.

Toward composite molecular signatures in the phenotyping of asthma.

The complex biology of respiratory diseases such as asthma is feeding the discovery of various disease phenotypes. Although the clinical management of asthma phenotypes by using a single biomarker (e.g.

Glucocorticoid-induced changes in gene expression of airway smooth muscle in patients with asthma.

Rationale: Glucocorticoids are the mainstay of asthma therapy. However, it is unclear whether the benefits of glucocorticoids in asthma are merely based on antiinflammatory properties. Glucocorticoids may also alter gene expression of airway smooth muscle (ASM).

Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) of human endobronchial biopsies: asthma versus controls.

The cellular and molecular pathways in asthma are highly complex. Increased understanding can be obtained by unbiased transcriptomic analysis (RNA-Seq). We hypothesised that the transcriptomic profile of whole human endobronchial biopsies differs between asthma patients and controls.

In vivo imaging of the airway wall in asthma: fibered confocal fluorescence microscopy in relation to histology and lung function.

Background: Airway remodelling is a feature of asthma including fragmentation of elastic fibres observed in the superficial elastin network of the airway wall. Fibered confocal fluorescence microscopy (FCFM) is a new and non-invasive imaging technique performed during bronchoscopy that may visualize elastic fibres, as shown by in vitro spectral analysis of elastin powder. We hypothesized that FCFM images capture in vivo elastic fibre patterns within the airway wall and that such patterns correspond with airway histology.