ADAM33 gene polymorphisms associate with asthma susceptibility and severity in East China han population.

Objective: Multiple genetic and environmental factors impact the pathogenesis of asthma. ADAM33 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain 33) represents a novel susceptibility gene for asthma in several diverse populations. The aim of this study was to determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the ADAM33 gene associate with asthma susceptibility and severity in the Chinese Han population.

Telocyte morphologies and potential roles in diseases.

Telocytes (TCs) are a new type of interstitial cells, a small cellular body with the presence of 2-5 prolongations named as telopode (Tp)-very thin (less than 0.2 µm) and extremely long (10-1,000 µm), a moniliform aspect, and caveolae, containing a nucleus surrounded by a small amount of cytoplasm. The nucleus occupies about 25% of TC body volume and contains clusters of heterochromatin attached to the nuclear envelope.

Tobacco smoking in China: prevalence, disease burden, challenges and future strategies.

About one-third of the world's tobacco is produced and consumed in China. Despite existing tobacco control policies and activities, the prevalence of smoking in China remains high with 350 million smokers and 740 million passive smokers. Furthermore, smoking rates in the young population and in females are increasing.

Characteristics of Chinese patients with cough in primary care centre.

Background: Cough is one of the most common respiratory symptoms and is well characterized in specialized cough clinics with high success rates of diagnosis and treatment. However, there is a paucity of data regarding cough in primary care settings. The present study aimed at investigating clinical epidemiology of cough through a national study of two questionnaire surveys sent to primary care physicians in China.

Therapeutic role of terbutaline in a rat whole-lung lavage model.

Whole-lung lavage (WLL) is the preferred therapy for patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP). However, WLL can cause fluid retention, surfactant lost, and hypoxia. Terbutaline has been shown to accelerate the rate of alveolar fluid clearance and augment surfactant secretion.

Selection of disease-specific biomarkers by integrating inflammatory mediators with clinical informatics in AECOPD patients: a preliminary study.

Systemic inflammation is a major factor influencing the outcome and quality of patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and acute exacerbations (AECOPD). Because of the inflammatory complexity, a great challenge is still confronted to optimize the identification and validation of disease-specific biomarkers. This study aimed at developing a new protocol of specific biomarker evaluation by integrating proteomic profiles of inflammatory mediators with clinical informatics in AECOPD patients, understand better their function and signal networks.

A genome-wide association study identifies two new lung cancer susceptibility loci at 13q12.12 and 22q12.2 in Han Chinese.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. To identify genetic factors that modify the risk of lung cancer in individuals of Chinese ancestry, we performed a genome-wide association scan in 5,408 subjects (2,331 individuals with lung cancer (cases) and 3,077 controls) followed by a two-stage validation among 12,722 subjects (6,313 cases and 6,409 controls). The combined analyses identified six well-replicated SNPs with independent effects and significant lung cancer associations (P < 5.

Pulmonary epithelial CCR3 promotes LPS-induced lung inflammation by mediating release of IL-8.

Interleukin (IL)-8 from pulmonary epithelial cells has been suggested to play an important role in the airway inflammation, although the mechanism remains unclear. We envisioned a possibility that pulmonary epithelial CCR3 could be involved in secretion and regulation of IL-8 and promote lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung inflammation. Human bronchial epithelial cell line NCI-H292 and alveolar type II epithelial cell line A549 were used to test role of CCR3 in production of IL-8 at cellular level.

Preventive and therapeutic effects of phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors on acute lung injury.

Background: Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) are involved in a number of biologic responses. Recent preclinical studies demonstrated that the PI3K-dominant signal pathway could play an important role in the development of acute lung injury, although the mechanism remains unclear.

Methods: CD-1 mice were administered different PI3K inhibitors either intranasally or intragastrically once a day for 3 days before intratracheal instillation of lipopolysaccharide at 4 h and 24 h.

Pulmonary fibroblasts from COPD patients show an impaired response of elastin synthesis to TGF-β1.

Insufficiency of tissue repair by pulmonary fibroblasts may contribute to the decrease in elastic fibres in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this study, the repair function of COPD fibroblasts was assessed by examining the response to transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1. Primary pulmonary fibroblasts were cultured from lung tissue of COPD patients and smoking control subjects.

A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy of paclitaxel-carboplatin alone or with endostar for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Recombinant human endostatin is a novel inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis that acts specifically on neovascular endothelial cells. Studies have shown that endostar plus vinorelbine-cisplatin chemotherapy could improve objective response rates (ORR) and overall survival (OS) of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. This study is to explore the clinical efficacy of endostar plus paclitaxel-carboplatin (TC) in advanced NSCLC patients.

Deletion of aquaporin 5 aggravates acute lung injury induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Background: Aquaporin (AQP) is a membrane protein that facilitates osmotic water transport. Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) expresses at type I alveolar epithelia of apical membrane that confers high osmotic water permeability. Osmosis or stretch challenge in alveoli significantly up-regulates AQP5 expression, which suggests that AQP5 may play a role in the maintenance of epithelia barrier function.

COPD in China: the burden and importance of proper management.

Although, to our knowledge, there has been no exhaustive or credible review of the evidence of the disease burden of COPD in China, COPD has become an increasing public health concern to the Chinese medical community. The purpose of this article is to review the evidence and evaluate and clarify the disease burden of COPD in China with the aim of improving effective management. We reviewed previous studies of COPD in China, which included data on prevalence, mortality, disease burden, risk factors, diagnosis, and management by searching related Web sites, including PubMed, ProQuest, and Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge, as well as major Chinese databases and government Web sites.

Aquaporin 5 expression increases mucin production in lung adenocarcinoma.

Our recent studies have demonstrated that AQP5 is involved in the metastatic potential of lung cancer. Here, our aim was to explore the effects of AQP5 expression on mucin production in lung adenocarcinoma. We tested MUC5AC and MUC5B mucin production induced by AQP5 expression in lung adenocarcinoma metastasis.

Potential mechanism of interleukin-8 production from lung cancer cells: an involvement of EGF-EGFR-PI3K-Akt-Erk pathway.

Tumor inflammatory microenvironment is considered to play the role in the sensitivity of tumor cells to therapies and prognosis of lung cancer patients. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is one of critical chemo-attractants responsible for leukocyte recruitment, cancer proliferation, and angiogenesis. The present study aimed at investigating potential mechanism of IL-8 production from human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) SPC-A1 cells.

Continuous intra-arterial blood pH monitoring in rabbits with acid-base disorders.

The acid-base balance of arterial blood is important for the clinical management of seriously ill patients, especially patients with acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome. We developed a novel fluorosensor for continuous blood pH monitoring and evaluated its performance both in vitro and in vivo in rabbits with acid-base disorders. The pH sensor is made of N-allyl-4-piperazinyl-1, 8-napthalimide and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, which were bonded at the distal end of the optical fiber.

Impaired migration and cell volume regulation in aquaporin 5-deficient SPC-A1 cells.

Background: Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) is widely expressed in various organ and tissues. In light of the novel oncogenic properties of aquaporins (AQPs), here we investigated the effect of AQP5 knockdown by RNAi on transmembrane osmotic water permeability, cell migration potential and cell volume regulation ability.

Methods: AQP5 expression was inhibited by short hairpin RNA in SPC-A1 cells, a lung adenocarcinoma cell line.

Continuous intra-arterial blood pH monitoring by a fiber-optic fluorosensor.

Continuous intra-arterial blood pH monitoring is highly desirable in clinical practice. However, devices with appreciable accuracy are still not commercially available to date. In this study, we present a fiber-optic fluorosensor that can be used to continuously and accurately measure blood pH changes.

Deletion of peroxiredoxin 6 potentiates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice.

Objective: To investigate the role and signaling pathway of peroxiredoxin 6, a newly identified peroxidase, in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled study.

Setting: Research laboratory.

Lung fluorescence imaging to evaluate tumor metastasis induced by AQP5 expression in murine model.

Our recent study, by up-regulation of AQP5 expression, showed enhanced proliferation and migration potential in lung cancer. However, so far none of the in vivo study of gene silencing of AQP5 has been tested. In this study, we tested roles of AQP5 on lung cancer metastasis potential by gene silencing of AQP5 in two lung cancer cell lines and tried to monitor lung metastases with EGFP marker.

The value of the lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury model in respiratory medicine.

Acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) is a syndrome characterized by pulmonary edema and acute inflammation. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major component in Gram-negative bacteria, has been used to induce ALI/ARDS. LPS-induced animal models highlight ways to explore mechanisms of multiple diseases and provide useful information on the discovery of novel biomarkers and drug targets.

Genetic variants in the TIRAP gene are associated with increased risk of sepsis-associated acute lung injury.

Background: Toll like receptors (TLRs) signaling pathways, including the adaptor protein Mal encoded by the TIRAP gene, play a central role in the development of acute lung injury (ALI). Recently, the TIRAP variants have been described association with susceptibility to inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic variants in TIRAP are associated with the development of ALI.