Successful treatment of Wegener's granulomatosis during pregnancy: a case report and review of the medical literature.

During the 18th week of a first pregnancy, a 20-year-old woman visits her physician complaining of cough, sore throat, and hemoptysis of 4 days in duration. A chest radiograph, laboratory study findings including a cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody titer, and lung biopsy results were consistent with a limited form of Wegener's granulomatosis. She was treated successfully with prednisone and cyclophosphamide.

Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase expression in alveolar epithelial cells: upregulation of active ion transport by KGF.

We evaluated the effects of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) on alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) active ion transport and on rat epithelial Na channel (rENaC) subunit and Na(+)-K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit isoform expression using monolayers of AEC grown in primary culture. Rat alveolar type II cells were plated on polycarbonate filters in serum-free medium, and KGF (10 ng/ml) was added to confluent AEC monolayers on day 4 in culture. Exposure of AEC monolayers to KGF on day 4 resulted in dose-dependent increases in short-circuit current (Isc) compared with controls by day 5, with further increases occurring through day 8.