Tiotropium improves lung function, exacerbation rate, and asthma control, independent of baseline characteristics including age, degree of airway obstruction, and allergic status.

Background: Many patients with asthma remain symptomatic despite treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) with or without long-acting β2-agonists (LABAs). Tiotropium add-on to ICS plus a LABA has been shown to improve lung function and reduce exacerbation risk in patients with symptomatic asthma.

Objective: To determine whether the efficacy of tiotropium add-on therapy is dependent on patients' baseline characteristics.

A controlled study of community-based exercise training in patients with moderate COPD.

Background: The effectiveness of clinic-based pulmonary rehabilitation in advanced COPD is well established, but few data exist for less severe patients treated in alternative settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a novel, community-based exercise program (CBE) was feasible and effective for patients with moderate COPD.

Methods: Nineteen patients with moderate COPD (mean FEV1 62%) and self-reported exercise impairment were randomized to 12-weeks of progressive endurance and strength training at a local health club under the guidance of a certified personal trainer, or to continuation of unsupervised habitual physical activity.

A novel molecular pathway for Snail-dependent, SPARC-mediated invasion in non-small cell lung cancer pathogenesis.

Definition of the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer allows investigators an enhanced understanding of the natural history of the disease, thus fostering development of new prevention strategies. In addition to regulating epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the transcription factor Snail exerts global effects on gene expression. Our recent studies reveal that Snail is upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is associated with poor prognosis, and promotes tumor progression in vivo.

Combined treatment with formoterol and tiotropium is more efficacious than treatment with tiotropium alone in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, regardless of smoking status, inhaled corticosteroid use, baseline severity, or gender.

A recent randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, active-controlled, multicenter study of 255 patients ≥ 40 years of age with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) showed that combined formoterol (FOR) and tiotropium (TIO) treatment in patients with COPD significantly improved lung function as well as symptoms and other patient-reported outcomes compared with TIO alone. FOR and TIO are long-acting bronchodilators that represent the β₂-adrenergic agonist and anticholinergic classes, respectively. However, the possible influence of smoking status, inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use, baseline disease severity, and gender differences on bronchodilator efficacy requires further investigation.

Smoking cessation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasing in prevalence, and is predicted to become the third leading cause of deaths worldwide by 2020. The precise prevalence of COPD is not known, as many individuals with the disease are left undiagnosed, despite the requirement of only simple spirometry testing for disease detection. The major risk factor for the development of COPD is cigarette smoking, with 90% of deaths from COPD directly attributable to smoking.

High-resolution chest CT findings do not predict the presence of pulmonary hypertension in advanced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Reliable, noninvasive approaches to the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are needed. We tested the hypothesis that chest CT-determined extent of pulmonary fibrosis and/or main pulmonary artery diameter (MPAD) can be used to identify the presence of PH in patients with advanced IPF.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 65 patients with advanced IPF and available right-heart catheterization and high-resolution chest CT.

Interleukin-7 gene-modified dendritic cells reduce pulmonary tumor burden in spontaneous murine bronchoalveolar cell carcinoma.

The antitumor efficiency of dendritic cells transduced with an adenovirus vector expressing interleukin (IL)-7 (DC-AdIL-7) was evaluated in a murine model of spontaneous bronchoalveolar cell carcinoma. These transgenic mice (CC-10 TAg), expressing the SV40 large T antigen under the Clara cell promoter, develop bilateral multifocal pulmonary adenocarcinomas and die at 4 months as a result of progressive pulmonary tumor burden. Injection of DC-AdIL-7 in the axillary lymph node region (ALNR) weekly for 3 weeks led to a marked reduction in tumor burden with extensive lymphocytic infiltration of the tumors and enhanced survival.

Synergistic cytotoxicity of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol and butylated hydroxyanisole.

We examined the food additive, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), for its capacity to modulate the cytotoxic effects of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC was not cytotoxic when added to cultures of A549 lung tumor cells at concentrations<5 microg/ml, but induced cell necrosis at higher levels with an LC(50)=16-18 microg/ml. BHA alone, at concentrations of 10-200 microM, produced limited cell toxicity but significantly enhanced the necrotic death resulting from concurrent exposure to THC.