Increase in macrophage elastase (MMP-12) in lungs from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective And Design: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by an inflammatory process and airway remodeling involving matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Thus, we analyzed the expression and release of MMP-12 (macrophage metalloelastase) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and lung tissue from COPD patients and control subjects.

Methods: Immunocytochemistry and immunochemistry were performed to analyze the expression of MMP-12 in BAL cells and bronchial biopsies.

IL-11 and IL-17 expression in nasal polyps: relationship to collagen deposition and suppression by intranasal fluticasone propionate.

Objectives/hypothesis: Chronic hyperplastic sinusitis (CHS) with nasal polyps (NP) is characterized by extensive mucosal thickening, goblet cell hyperplasia, and subepithelial fibrosis. These features are described to be part of remodeling in the lower airways. The cytokines interleukin (IL)-11 and IL-17 are believed to play a role in lower airway remodeling, but there has been very little work so far examining these cytokines and their relationship to fibrosis in CHS/NP.

Airway remodeling-associated mediators in moderate to severe asthma: effect of steroids on TGF-beta, IL-11, IL-17, and type I and type III collagen expression.

Background: Important features of airway remodeling in asthma include the formation of subepithelial fibrosis and increased deposition of types I and III collagen. TGF-beta, IL-11, and IL-17 are profibrotic cytokines involved in the formation of subepithelial fibrosis and are increased in patients with asthma, particularly in those with severe disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of corticosteroids on the expression of these profibrotic cytokines and on extracellular matrix deposition.

Polarized in vivo expression of IL-11 and IL-17 between acute and chronic skin lesions.

Background: In atopic dermatitis (AD) there is evidence of tissue fibrosis involving a number of structural changes, including papillary dermal fibrosis and epidermal hyperplasia. These changes are suggested to be the result of chronic inflammation of the skin. Several remodeling-associated cytokines, including transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1, IL-11, and IL-17, have been shown to be increased in allergic diseases, including asthma.

IFN-gamma secretion by CD8T cells inhibits allergen-induced airway eosinophilia but not late airway responses.

Background: CD8+T cells can suppress allergen-induced late airway responses (LARs) and airway inflammation.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the suppression of LARs and airway eosinophilia by CD8+T cells is IFN-gamma mediated, we tested the effects of adoptively transferred CD8+T cells, in which IFN-gamma synthesis was inhibited by an antisense (AS) oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), on the airway responses of a rat model of allergic asthma.

Methods: CD8+T cells were harvested from the cervical lymph nodes of ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized Brown Norway rats for administration to other actively sensitized syngeneic rats.