[Modifications of the cytoimmunological pattern of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) material caused by cigarette smoking in selected lower air-way diseases].

Introduction: In the last years we have used flow cytometry as an auxiliary diagnostic tool in alveolar lymphocyte (i.e. originating from BAL) phenotyping in more than 500 persons suspected for lower airways pathology.

[Cigarette smoking results in the number of CD8+Fas Ligand+ T cytotoxic lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)].

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an interstitial lung disease with unfavourable outcome. Tobacco consumption in IPF exacerbates the clinical manifestations and limits the time of patient survival. The cyto-immunological alterations caused by smoking in IPF patients need particular explanation.

[Interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) level in broncholaveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is positively correlated with CD4/CD8 ratio in selected interstitial lung diseases].

Unlabelled: IFN-gamma a potent antifibrotic activity in interstitial lung diseases (ILD). T cells, both Th1 and Tc1, are considered to be the main local source of IFN-gamma.

Material And Methods: BAL fluids of 98 patients with ILD, incl.

[Apoptosis of alveolar lymphocytes in sarcoidosis and in control group is more frequent in smokers than in nonsmoking persons].

Cigarette smoking enhances apoptosis rate of alveolar macrophages. However, little is known about the appearance and extension of apoptosis in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) lymphocytes originating from smoker individuals, both in pulmonary sarcoidosis (the disease characterized by lymphocytic alveolitis) and in controls. BAL was carried out in 60 nontreated patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, subdivided acc.

[Studies on insulin-like growth factor-I expression in human lower airways].

Unlabelled: Antisense techniques that inhibit intracellular expression of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were efficient in gene therapy of some tumor diseases. IGF-I in the airways is considered to induce lung fibrosis in interstitial lung diseases, inhibit apoptosis of epithelial cells and participate in local carcinogenesis.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of the study was--by examining the IGF-I expression in the lower airways--to evaluate preliminary the efficacy of anti-IGF-I antisense technicques in the treatment of airways diseases.