The role of small heat-shock protein αB-crystalline (HspB5) in COPD pathogenesis.

Background: αB-crystallin (HspB5) is a chaperone whose role as a marker of innate immunity activation as well as its therapeutic potential have recently been investigated in several inflammatory diseases: multiple sclerosis, myocardial ischemia, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the role of αB-crystallin in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis and inflammation.

Materials: Plasma levels of αB-crystallin were studied in 163 patients: 52 healthy non-COPD smokers; 20 COPD smokers in Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages I-II; 43 COPD smokers in GOLD stages III-IV.

Clinical usefulness of alpha-crystallin antibodies in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

The non-invasive approach of finding biomarkers in peripheral blood of cancer patients makes it useful for clinical application and cancer screening. The aim of the study was to explore the clinical utility of alpha-crystallin antibodies as markers for diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and screening among high-risk groups. Alpha-crystallin antibodies were detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 51 NSCLC patients, 38 high-risk chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and 52 age and sex matched healthy volunteers.

Expression profile of the small heat-shock protein alpha-B-crystallin in operated-on non-small-cell lung cancer patients: clinical implication.

Objective: Alpha-B-crystallin, a small heat-shock protein, recently gained major interest because of its differential expression during tumourigenesis and metastasis in various epithelial tumours. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of alpha-B-crystallin and its biologic and prognostic significance in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on a tissue microarray slide containing samples from 146 NSCLC patients who were operated on between 2004 and 2005.

Porcine eye lens crystallins: antigenic similarity with human crystallins and tool for the detection of anti-crystallin antibodies.

Background: The usual sources of antigenic material for investigations on circulating immunoglobulins with anti-lens crystallins specificity are saline extracts of human cataract lenses. This practice has a number of drawbacks, especially the possible antigenic alterations that may have occurred in cataract lenses. The aim of this investigation was to compare the antigenic properties of porcine eye lens crystallins and human crystallins, with regard to the possibility for an alternative source of antigenic material for detection of anti-crystallin antibodies in human sera.

The age-related changes in the incidence of 'natural' anti-sperm antibodies suggest they are not auto-/isoantibodies.

Problem: Establishing the age-dependent patterns of sperm antibody levels among normal humans.

Methods Of Study: Sera samples from 498 healthy subjects aged 0-97 years - 246 males and 252 females - were tested by the gelatin agglutination test of Kibrick, tray agglutination test of Friberg, sperm immobilization test of Isojima and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: We found a significant increase in the level of sperm agglutinins after 40 years, which decreased after 88 years.