A randomized double blinded placebo controlled clinical trial for the evaluation of green coffee extract on immune health in healthy adults.

Background: The immune system functions to protect the host from a broad array of infectious diseases. Here, we evaluated the immunomodulatory effects of green coffee extract (GCE), and conducted a double-blinded, randomized and placebo-controlled trial among apparently healthy individuals.

Methods: We determined the levels and functions of inflammatory and immune markers viz.

Pleiotrophin regulates lung epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation during fetal lung development via beta-catenin and Dlk1.

The role of pleiotrophin in fetal lung development was investigated. We found that pleiotrophin and its receptor, protein-tyrosine phosphatase receptor beta/zeta, were highly expressed in mesenchymal and epithelial cells of the fetal lungs, respectively. Using isolated fetal alveolar epithelial type II cells, we demonstrated that pleiotrophin promoted fetal type II cell proliferation and arrested type II cell trans-differentiation into alveolar epithelial type I cells.

Proteomic analysis of lamellar bodies isolated from rat lungs.

Background: Lamellar bodies are lysosome-related secretory granules and store lung surfactant in alveolar type II cells. To better understand the mechanisms of surfactant secretion, we carried out proteomic analyses of lamellar bodies isolated from rat lungs.

Results: With peptide mass fingerprinting by Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization - Time of Flight mass spectrometry, 44 proteins were identified with high confidence.