Evidence for altered immune-structural cell crosstalk in cystic fibrosis revealed by single cell transcriptomics.

Background: Chronic pulmonary inflammation strongly contributes to respiratory failure and mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Effective anti-microbial immunity and maintaining lung homeostasis require continuous structural-immune cell communication. Whether and how this crosstalk is altered in CF remains poorly understood, obscuring potential new angles for therapy development to restore airway homeostasis in pwCF.

Airway epithelial cell response to RSV is mostly impaired in goblet and multiciliated cells in asthma.

Background: In patients with asthma, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections can cause disease exacerbation by infecting the epithelial layer of the airways, inducing subsequent immune response. The type I interferon antiviral response of epithelial cells upon RSV infection is found to be reduced in asthma in most-but not all-studies. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms causing the differences in the asthmatic bronchial epithelium in response to viral infection are poorly understood.

Lack of a transcriptional response of primary bronchial epithelial cells from patients with asthma and controls to IL-33.

and are well-replicated asthma genes that act in a single pathway toward type-2 immune responses. is expressed by basal epithelial cells, and the release of IL-33 upon epithelial damage can activate innate lymphoid cells, T helper-2 cells, basophilic granulocytes, and mast cells through a receptor complex containing IL-1RL1. However, it is unknown how bronchial epithelial cells respond to IL-33, and whether this response is increased in the disease.

FastCAR: fast correction for ambient RNA to facilitate differential gene expression analysis in single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets.

Cell type-specific differential gene expression analyses based on single-cell transcriptome datasets are sensitive to the presence of cell-free mRNA in the droplets containing single cells. This so-called ambient RNA contamination may differ between samples obtained from patients and healthy controls. Current ambient RNA correction methods were not developed specifically for single-cell differential gene expression (sc-DGE) analyses and might therefore not sufficiently correct for ambient RNA-derived signals.

Nasal DNA methylation at three CpG sites predicts childhood allergic disease.

Childhood allergic diseases, including asthma, rhinitis and eczema, are prevalent conditions that share strong genetic and environmental components. Diagnosis relies on clinical history and measurements of allergen-specific IgE. We hypothesize that a multi-omics model could accurately diagnose childhood allergic disease.

Survival in COPD patients treated with bronchoscopic lung volume reduction.

Background And Objective: Severe COPD patients can significantly benefit from bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) treatments with coils or endobronchial valves. However, the potential impact of BLVR on survival is less understood. Therefore, our aim was to investigate the survival rate in patients who are evaluated for BLVR treatment and whether there is a difference in survival rate between patients who undergo BLVR treatment and patients who do not.

Moxidectin and Ivermectin Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Replication in Vero E6 Cells but Not in Human Primary Bronchial Epithelial Cells.

Antiviral therapies are urgently needed to treat and limit the development of severe COVID-19 disease. Ivermectin, a broad-spectrum anti-parasitic agent, has been shown to have anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity in Vero cells at a concentration of 5 μM. These limited results triggered the investigation of ivermectin as a treatment option to alleviate COVID-19 disease.

Long-acting dual bronchodilator therapy (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) versus nebulized short-acting dual bronchodilator (salbutamol/ipratropium) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Introduction: Most guidelines recommend long-acting bronchodilators over short-acting bronchodilators for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The available evidence for the guidelines was based on dry powder or pressurized metered dose inhalers, but not nebulizations. Nevertheless, there is considerable, poorly evidenced based, use of short acting nebulized bronchodilators.

Nasal DNA methylation profiling of asthma and rhinitis.

Background: Epigenetic signatures in the nasal epithelium, which is a primary interface with the environment and an accessible proxy for the bronchial epithelium, might provide insights into mechanisms of allergic disease.

Objective: We aimed to identify and interpret methylation signatures in nasal epithelial brushes associated with rhinitis and asthma.

Methods: Nasal epithelial brushes were obtained from 455 children at the 16-year follow-up of the Dutch Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study.

Assessing small airways dysfunction in asthma, asthma remission and healthy controls using particles in exhaled air.

http://bit.ly/2znHABg.

A cellular census of human lungs identifies novel cell states in health and in asthma.

Human lungs enable efficient gas exchange and form an interface with the environment, which depends on mucosal immunity for protection against infectious agents. Tightly controlled interactions between structural and immune cells are required to maintain lung homeostasis. Here, we use single-cell transcriptomics to chart the cellular landscape of upper and lower airways and lung parenchyma in healthy lungs, and lower airways in asthmatic lungs.

A review on the pathophysiology of asthma remission.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition, which is highly prevalent worldwide. Although no cure is currently available, it is well recognized that some asthma patients can spontaneously enter remission of the disease later in life. Asthma remission is characterized by absence of symptoms and lack of asthma-medication use.

The asthma-obesity relationship: underlying mechanisms and treatment implications.

Purpose Of Review: Obesity is a worldwide epidemic with a prevalence that has tripled in the last two decades. Worldwide, more than 1.5 billion adults are overweight and more than 500 million obese.