Respiratory proteomics: from descriptive studies to personalized medicine.

Respiratory diseases are highly prevalent and affect humankind worldwide, causing extensive morbidity and mortality with the environment playing an important role. Given the complex structure of the airways, sophisticated tools are required for early diagnosis; initial symptoms are nonspecific, and the clinical diagnosis is made frequently late. Over the past few years, proteomics has made high technological progress in mass-spectrometry-based protein identification and has allowed us to gain new insights into disease mechanisms and identify potential novel therapeutic targets.

Immune response to seasonal influenza A virus infection: a proteomic approach.

Background And Aims: Influenza viruses cause respiratory infection in humans and result in substantial illness, death, and economic burden. To date, however, the mechanisms by which these viruses cause disease are not fully understood.

Methods: To investigate the proteomic profile of children infected with seasonal influenza A virus, nasal aspirates derived from children (n = 12) experiencing flu symptoms caused by seasonal influenza A virus were analyzed using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE).

Galectin-10 is released in the nasal lavage fluid of patients with aspirin-sensitive respiratory disease.

The aim of this work was to determine the presence of galectin-10 in nasal lavage fluid (NLF) of patients with aspirin-sensitive respiratory disease (ASRD) before and after challenge with L-ASA (aspirin) by ELISA. Fifteen ASRD patients, ten aspirin-tolerant asthmatics (ATA), and fifteen healthy controls (HC) were studied. The baseline presence of Galectin-10 in PBMC was determined using real time PCR.

Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12/stromal cell-derived factor-1 is associated with leukocyte recruitment in asthma.

Background: Asthma is characterized by allergic airway inflammatory response involving extensive leukocyte infiltration. The stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1 or chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12) attracts a number of cells, including resting T lymphocytes, monocytes, CD34(+) stem cells, basophils, and mature eosinophils. To date, however, the potential role of CXCL12/SDF-1 in relation to leukocyte recruitment in asthma has not been previously examined, to our knowledge.