[Pharmacological profile of mepolizumab].

An elevated number of eosinophils have been implicated in several type 2 inflammatory chronic diseases that occur at various sites in the body. Over the past 20 years, our knowledge of diseases associated with increased numbers of eosinophils has advanced thanks to the development of drugs that can reduce or even eliminate eosinophils. One such agent is mepolizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to interleukin -5 (IL-5).

Intrapleural alteplase therapy: what are the knowns and unknowns?

In pneumology, enzymatic properties of plasmin are used to disrupt fibrin adhesions and septations formed during pathological conditions of the pleural cavity. In that case, fibrinolytics are administrated locally via a chest tube in the pleural cavity to evacuate pathological effusion. Although the first intrapleural administration of fibrinolytic occurred seventy years ago, there has been no consensus on dosing or a uniform procedure of their application.

Differential sensitivity to apoptosome apparatus activation in non-small cell lung carcinoma and the lung.

The intrinsic apoptosis pathway represents an important mechanism of stress-induced death of cancer cells. To gain insight into the functional status of the apoptosome apparatus in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), we studied its sensitivity to activation, the assembly of apoptosome complexes and stability of their precursors, and the importance of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) in the regulation of apoptosome activity, using cell-free cytosols from NSCLC cell lines and NSCLC tumours and lungs from 62 surgically treated patients. Treatment of cytosol samples with cytochrome c (cyt-c) and dATP induced proteolytic processing of procaspase-9 to caspase-9, which was followed by procaspase-3 processing to caspase-3, and by generation of caspase-3-like activity in 5 of 7 studied NSCLC cell lines.

Lung cancer in women.

Lung cancer is one of the most important avoidable causes of death around the world, it is the most widespread carcinoma with a very poor prognosis, and is the leading cause of cancer death in both developed and developing countries. At present more men than women die each year from lung cancer, but in recent years a rapid increase in lung cancer mortality has been observed among women in developed countries, contrasting with a levelling off or decrease among men. The rising trend in female lung cancer mortality has been observed to parallel with the past and current prevalence of cigarette smoking among women in the United States and elsewhere.

Adenocarcinoma of the lung among women: risk associated with smoking, prior lung disease, diet and menstrual and pregnancy history.

To investigate the role of tobacco and some other known or suspected factors responsible for the risk of developing adenocarcinoma of the lung, and to compare with other cell types (squamous-, small- and large-cell cancers) in Czech women, we conducted a case-control study. Data collected by personal interviews from 145 cases of adenocarcinoma of the lung, 221 lung cancer cases of other cell types, and 1624 controls were analyzed using unconditional logistic regression. Cigarette smoking was the main determinant of all major cell types of lung cancer among Czech women, its effect was weaker on adenocarcinoma than on squamous-, small- and large-cell cancers.