Search results for "Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid"
showing 10 items of 63 documents
Performance of existing definitions and tests for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in critically ill, adult patients: A systematic review with…
2020
Contains fulltext : 229471.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) OBJECTIVES: To summarize the available evidence on the diagnostic performance for invasive aspergillosis (IA) in non-hematological, non-solid organ transplantation critically ill patients of the following: (i) existing definitions of IA (developed either for classical immunocompromised populations or for non-immunocompromised critically ill patients); (ii) laboratory tests; (iii) radiology tests. METHODS: A systematic review was performed by evaluating studies assessing the diagnostic performance for IA of a definition/s and/or laboratory/radiology test/s vs. a reference standard (histology) or a reference definition. RES…
Lung CD11c+ cells from mice deficient in Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 3 (EBI-3) prevent airway hyper-responsiveness in experimental asthma
2007
Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene (EBI)-3 codes for a soluble type 1 cytokine receptor homologous to the p40 subunit of IL-12 that is expressed by antigen-presenting cells following activation. Here, we analyzed the functional role of EBI-3 in a murine model of asthma associated with airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) in ovalbumin-sensitized mice. Upon allergen challenge, EBI-3-/- mice showed less severe AHR, decreased numbers and degranulation of eosinophils and a significantly reduced number of VCAM-1+ cells in the lungs as compared to wild-type littermates. We thus analyzed lung CD11c+ cells before and after allergen challenge in these mice and found that before allergen challenge, lung CD1…
A Comparison of Aspergillus and Mucorales PCR Testing of Different Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Fractions from Patients with Suspected Invasive Pulmo…
2018
ABSTRACT In patients with hematological malignancies, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) specimens are commonly used for the diagnosis of mold infections. However, it is not clear whether the cell pellet (P) or the supernatant fraction (S) of the BALF specimen is optimal for molecular diagnostic testing. Thus, 99 BALF specimens were collected from 96 hematology patients with or without allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The cell pellets and supernatants were processed alone and in combination (S/P) for testing by two fungus-specific real-time PCR assays compliant with international recommendations. The results achieved with S/P were revealed to be superior in comparison to thos…
Lung Compartmentalization of Increased TNF Releasing Ability by Mononuclear Phagocytes in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis
1989
The TNF is a monokine with cytotoxic and tumor-necrosing activities; in addition, TNF may play a role in inflammatory processes. The present study evaluates spontaneous and LPS-mediated release of TNF by AMs and autologous peripheral BMs of normal subjects and patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. A recently developed cytotoxicity assay, specific for detection of TNF activity, was applied. This study demonstrates that (1) unstimulated mononuclear phagocytes released low levels of TNF with no differences between groups; (2) when effector cells were stimulated with LPS, AMs from patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis released more TNF than AMs recovered from normal subjects and from patien…
Correlation of Clinical and Immunologic Parameters of the Inflammatory Activity of Pulmonary Sarcoidosis
1991
The evaluation of activation markers such as T4/T8 ratio and HLA-DR expression of lymphocytes of bronchoalveolar lavage (L-BAL) is an important clinical approach for the staging of sarcoidosis. However, it is not known to what extent this is paralleled by an exaggerated lymphocyte function. We investigated the dependence of L-BAL activation markers on the production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) by L-BAL and on the soluble IL-2 receptor serum level (sIL-2R) in 116 patients with sarcoidosis. In none of the combinations tested was a correlation between the two groups of parameters found; r less than 0.5, upper 90% confidence limit of r less than 0.8. Interestingly, IL-2 production is independent of…
Increased interleukin 6 production by bronchoalveolar lavage cells in patients with active sarcoidosis
1993
Alveolitis of sarcoidosis is characterized by activated alveolar macrophages (AMs) and T cells. The mediators interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) released by AMs represent essential factors for the progression of the T cells in the cell cycle. The role of IL-1 in pulmonary sarcoidosis has previously been studied; however, the relevance of other mediators (i.e. IL-6) has not yet been evaluated. We measured the spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced release of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) by bronchoalveolar lavage cells (BAL) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) in 6 control subjects (group A) and in 15 patients with sarcoidosis, 10 with activ…
Spontaneous Monokine Release by Alveolar Macrophages in Chronic Sarcoidosis
1991
In pulmonary sarcoidosis an activation of alveolar T lymphocytes and alveolar macrophages (AM) has been demonstrated. There is evidence that in contrast to acute disease a heightened T-cell response cannot be observed in the chronic phase of sarcoidosis. The role of AM in the inflammatory process of chronic sarcoidosis is not yet intensively evaluated. To address this question we measured the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) by AM of 39 patients with chronic sarcoidosis (duration > 4 years; 30 active, 9 inactive diseases) without therapy and correlated the monokine release with parameters of T-cell alveolitis and the course of the disease. The T4/T8 …
Pneumonia in Febrile Neutropenic Patients and in Bone Marrow and Blood Stem-Cell Transplant Recipients: Use of High-Resolution Computed Tomography
1999
PURPOSE: To obtain statistical data on the use of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) for early detection of pneumonia in febrile neutropenic patients with unknown focus of infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred eighty-eight HRCT studies were performed prospectively in 112 neutropenic patients with fever of unknown origin persisting for more than 48 hours despite empiric antibiotic treatment. Fifty-four of these studies were performed in transplant recipients. All patients had normal chest roentgenograms. If pneumonia was detected by HRCT, guided bronchoalveolar lavage was recommended. Evidence of pneumonia on chest roentgenograms during follow-up and micro-organisms detected…
Detection of Mycoplasma sp. in bronchoalveolar lavage of AIDS patients with pulmonary infiltrates.
1996
We examined 486 bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) including 32 from AIDS patients with pulmonary infiltrates and 20 from patients with leukemia or after transplantation. Mycoplasmas were found in 4/32 (12.5%) HIV-positive patients compared to 4/454 (0.9%) HIV-negative patients (p0.001). All of these four HIV-positive patients suffered from advanced infection (CD4 counts100/microL) and developed complications (Pcp, n = 2, recurrent bacterial pneumonia, n = 1, pulmonary Kaposi sarcoma, n = 1). No mycoplasmas were detected in 20 immunosuppressed patients with leukemia or after transplantation. Our data indicate that AIDS patients may be more often colonised or infected by mycoplasmas than HIV-nega…
A macrophage-suppressing 40-kD protein in a case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.
1987
Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease of unknown etiology. Macrophage dysfunctions are claimed to be involved in the pathogenesis. We investigated phagocytosis and oxidative metabolism of alveolar macrophages in a case of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. These cells phagocytize normally and phagocytizable stimulants cause a normal oxidative burst. In response to the membrane signals phorbolmyristate acetate and aggregated immunoglobulin, however, no stimulated turnover of the oxidative metabolism can be observed. A 40-kD protein found in the lavage fluid mediates this macrophage-inhibiting effect. This phenomenon may contribute to the frequent opportunistic infections seen i…