Publications by authors named "Sara Gangi"

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare interstitial lung disease typified by a progressive fibrosing phenotype. IPF has been associated with aberrant HDAC activity, particularly HDAC6. Combining synthetic and modeling studies, a new family of spirotetrahydroisoquinoline-capped histone deacetylase inhibitors - was developed.

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Background: Post-coronavirus disease 19 lung fibrosis (PCLF) shares common immunological abnormalities with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), characterized by an unbalanced cytokine profile being associated with the development of lung fibrosis. The aim of the present study was to analyze and compare the different subsets of CD4- and CD8-T cells, along with specific cytokine expression patterns, in peripheral blood (PB) from patients affected by PCLF and IPF and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: One-hundred patients followed at the Rare Lung Disease Center of Siena University Hospital were enrolled.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne infectious disease that continues to cause significant health issues globally, despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment.
  • In high-income countries, TB is less common but still presents socio-economic challenges, highlighting the need for effective management and awareness.
  • Pulmonologists play a crucial role in TB care due to its complexities, global travel factors, varied symptoms, and the potential for drug resistance.
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  • Researchers studied lung disease linked to autoimmune diseases and wanted to find helpful tests to diagnose it!
  • They looked at 3,169 patients and measured specific substances in their blood, focusing on two types of lung disease!
  • The study found that a substance called KL-6 was really useful for diagnosing lung disease, and using both blood tests and patient info could help doctors make better decisions!
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Background: Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) is a group of lung disorders characterized by interstitial lung thickening due to inflammatory and fibrotic processes. Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) is a molecule secreted by damaged type II alveolar pneumocytes in the alveolar space. The goal of the present study was to compare two detection methods of KL-6 in both bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum from ILD patients at the moment of diagnosis.

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Post-COVID symptoms are reported in 10-35 % of patients not requiring hospitalization, and in up to 80 % of hospitalized patients and patients with severe disease. The pathogenesis of post-COVID syndrome remains largely unknown. Some evidence suggests that prolonged inflammation has a key role in the pathogenesis of most post-COVID manifestations.

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Introduction: Pulmonary fibrosis is an irreversible condition that may be caused by known (including viral triggers such as SARS-CoV-2) and unknown insults. The latter group includes idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which is a chronic, progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause. The longer the insult acts on lung tissue, the lower the probability of a complete resolution of the damage.

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Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) encompass a diverse group of disorders affecting the lung interstitium, leading to inflammation, fibrosis, and impaired respiratory function. Currently, the identification of new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for ILDs turns out to be necessary. Several studies show the role of KL-6 in various types of interstitial lung disease and suggest that serum KL-6 levels can be used as a prognostic marker of disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • Biological treatments like benralizumab and mepolizumab have improved the management of severe eosinophilic asthma, but their effects on specific immune cells (NK and Treg cells) were previously unknown.
  • In a study of fourteen severe asthma patients compared to healthy and mild asthma controls, it was found that severe asthma patients had higher levels of a specific immune cell type (CD4 TEM) at the start.
  • Both treatments effectively reduced CD4 TEM cells and increased Treg cells over time, indicating that anti-IL-5 therapies not only improve clinical symptoms but also help rebalance certain immune cell populations in severe asthma patients.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may determine a multisystemic chronic syndrome after resolution of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a significant percentage of patients. Persistent cytokine dysregulation can contribute to long-lasting inflammation and tissue damage, resulting in the diverse, often debilitating symptoms experienced by some patients (so-called long COVID syndrome). The aim of our study was to evaluate the value of a panel of serum biomarkers of severity and prognosis in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and also as predictive factors for the development of post-COVID lung sequelae after discharge from the hospital.

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Background: Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) is a high molecular weight (MW) glycoprotein mainly secreted by type II pneumocytes because of lung damage or during regeneration. Neurosarcoidosis (NS), where sarcoid granulomas involve the nervous system, occurs in 5-20% of patients with sarcoidosis. No data is currently available on KL-6 in serum or CSF of NS patients.

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Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease mainly affecting the lungs and hilomediastinal lymph nodes. It is characterized by non-caseating epithelioid cell granulomas in lymph nodes and lungs. Our study aimed to evaluate and compare T, B and NK cell subsets in the alveolar compartment, lymph nodes and the bloodstream simultaneously in the same patients to elucidate the immune responses associated with the development and progression of sarcoidosis.

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Background: The pathogenesis of sarcoidosis involves T cells and B lymphocytes that produce autoantibodies. We compared the expression of different T and B cell subsets in sarcoidosis and three B-mediated rheumatic diseases that can affect the lungs in an attempt to identify similarities and differences that distinguish these diseases.

Methods: The study included patients referred to Siena University Hospital's respiratory disease and rheumatology units.

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Diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILD) is difficult to perform. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate cell-to-cell communication, and they are released by a variety of cells. Our goal aimed to investigate EV markers in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), sarcoidosis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) cohorts.

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Lung transplant (LTX) patients are at high risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, which is often associated with high mortality and morbidity. Reactivation of CMV causes cell injury due to the cytopathic effect of viral replication and triggering of T cell immunity. The aim of this study was to compare expression of immune checkpoints (ICs) (PD-1, CTLA-4, LAG-3 and TIGIT) in CD4, CD8 and CD56 and activation markers CD137, CD154 and CD69 of end-stage patients awaiting lung transplant.

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Background: Preterm birth and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) could induce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an important factor to focus on, as it is associated with parental mental health difficulties and with changes in caregiving quality such as increased intrusiveness, reduced sensitivity, and increased attachment insecurity for the child.

Aims: We aimed to study the main risk factors, in the early life of newborns, and preventive measures for PTSD in parents of neonates hospitalized in the NICU.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the primary opportunistic infection threatening lung transplant recipients, linked to graft failure and lower survival rates, prompting studies on new antiviral therapies and immune responses.
  • The study analyzed 17 lung transplant candidates and 15 healthy controls, focusing on NK and T cell populations using QuantiFERON (QF) and IFN-γ ELISA assays to predict immune responses to CMV.
  • Findings indicated that QF testing is more reliable than serology for identifying patients likely to respond to CMV infection, revealing enhanced immune profiles in QF-positive patients, particularly in NK and CD8 T cells.
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Background: Sarcoidosis features non-necrotizing granulomas consisting mainly of activated CD4-lymphocytes. T-cell activation is regulated by immune checkpoint (IC) molecules. The present study aimed to compare IC expression on CD4, CD8 and NK cells from peripheral, alveolar and lung-draining lymph node (LLN) samples of sarcoidosis patients.

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(1) Background: Sarcoidosis is a chronic multisystem disorder of unknown aetiology, driven by a T-cell mechanism allowing T-cell attachment and transmigration through the endothelium, and endorsed by the expression of an integrin alpha-E beta-7 (CD103). This study aimed to analyse the different distribution and compartmentalisation of CD103 expression on T cell subsets in BAL, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and lymph nodes (LLN) from sarcoidosis patients. (2) Patients: We consecutively and prospectively enrolled 14 sarcoidosis patients.

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Background: The use of BAL to study ILDs has improved our understanding of IPF pathogenesis. BAL fluid is routinely collected and can be considered a clinical and research tool. The procedure is well tolerated and minimally invasive.

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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and sarcoidosis are two distinct clinical entities with different aetiology, epidemiology, risk factors, symptoms and chest imaging. A number of papers have reported an overlap of the two diseases and have suggested the existence of a distinct phenotype defined as combined sarcoidosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (CSIPF). We used the scoping review protocol to review the literature on CSIPF.

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Background: Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) has been proposed as a disease severity marker of COVID-19. All research articles reported the KL-6 assay detected through Fujirebio reagents by Lumipulse G600/G1200 instrument. In the present study, KL-6 assay was analysed through Tosoh AIA-360 and compared with analytical results by Lumipulse G600 in a population of COVID-19 patients.

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2 emerged in Wuhan (China) in December 2019 and has severely challenged the human population. NK and T cells are involved in the progression of COVID-19 infection through the ability of NK cells to modulate T-cell responses, and by the stimulation of cytokine release. No detailed investigation of the NK cell landscape in clinical SARS-CoV-2 infection has yet been reported.

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