Search results for "Marker"

Eligibility for treatment with omalizumab in Italy and Germany.

2013

Summary Omalizumab is an add-on therapy for patients with uncontrolled severe allergic asthma. In Europe, patients must fulfil a number of additional criteria to become eligible for omalizumab therapy, creating a challenge for epidemiology studies to quantify the potential patient pool. Thus, and in the absence of robust data, the number of omalizumab-eligible patients has remained unclear. To assess eligible patient numbers, a chart-audit design approach was employed to measure epidemiology variables based on patient-level data. 770 patient charts were reviewed in designated towns in Germany and Italy, in collaboration with >200 primary care physicians (PCPs) and respiratory specialists (R…

Eosinophilic and Noneosinophilic Asthma

2021

Background Phenotypic characteristics of patients with eosinophilic and noneosinophilic asthma are not well characterized in global, real-life severe asthma cohorts. Research Question What is the prevalence of eosinophilic and noneosinophilic phenotypes in the population with severe asthma, and can these phenotypes be differentiated by clinical and biomarker variables? Study Design and Methods This was an historical registry study. Adult patients with severe asthma and available blood eosinophil count (BEC) from 11 countries enrolled in the International Severe Asthma Registry (January 1, 2015-September 30, 2019) were categorized according to likelihood of eosinophilic phenotype using a pre…

Advances in asthma pathophysiology: stepping forward from the Maurizio Vignola experience

2015

Maurizio Vignola was a superb and innovative researcher, who wrote seminal papers on the biology of airway epithelium in asthma. Inflammation and remodelling were the main topics of his research, mostly conducted in biopsy specimens from patients with asthma of variable severity, encompassing the entire spectrum of the disease from mild to severe asthma. His observations contributed to define the biology of asthma as we know it today, and opened the way to the personalised treatment of asthma. His group has successfully continued to investigate the biology and clinical aspects of bronchial asthma, with major interest in the clinical use of biomarkers to monitor disease activity, and in the …

Serological biomarkers for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium abscessus infections in cystic fibrosis patients

2021

International audience; Background: Culture conditions sometimes make it difficult to detect non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), particularly Mycobacterium abscessus, an emerging cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogen. The diagnosis of NTM positive cases not detected by classical culture methods might benefit from the development of a serological assay.Methods: As part of a diagnostic accuracy study, a total of 173 sera CF-patients, including 33 patients with M. abscessus positive cultures, and 31 non-CF healthy controls (HC) were evaluated. Four M. abscessus antigens were used separately, comprising two surface extracts (Interphase (INP) and a TLR2 positive extract (TLR2eF)) and two recombinant pro…

The potential role of SP-D as an early biomarker of severity of asthma

2021

Surfactant decreases the surface tension of peripheral airways and modulates the immunological responses of the lung. The alterations of surfactant due to the airway inflammation suggest a role in the pathogenesis of asthma. We aim to test the hypothesis that serum levels of SP-A (Surfactant Protein A) and SP-D (Surfactant Protein-D) are altered in patients with mild asthma compared to healthy controls and those alterations are related to functional abnormalities of peripheral airways, which are an early marker of progression of asthma. In this pilot study, we recruited 20 mild asthmatics and 10 healthy controls. We measured serum SP-A and SP-D and all subjects underwent clinical, lung func…

A comprehensive evaluation of potential lung function associated genes in the SpiroMeta general population sample

2011

Lung function measures are heritable traits that predict population morbidity and mortality and are essential for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Variations in many genes have been reported to affect these traits, but attempts at replication have provided conflicting results. Recently, we undertook a meta-analysis of Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) results for lung function measures in 20,288 individuals from the general population (the SpiroMeta consortium). OBJECTIVES: To comprehensively analyse previously reported genetic associations with lung function measures, and to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genomic regions…

Development of an efficient regeneration protocol for pear rootstock Pyrodwarf and assessment of somaclonal variability using SSR analysis.

2009

Changes in the Transcriptome Profiles of Human Amnion-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells Induced by Three-Dimensional Culture: A Potential Primin…

2022

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are believed to function in vivo as a homeostatic tool that shows therapeutic properties for tissue repair/regeneration. Conventionally, these cells are expanded in two-dimensional (2D) cultures, and, in that case, MSCs undergo genotypic/phenotypic changes resulting in a loss of their therapeutic capabilities. Moreover, several clinical trials using MSCs have shown controversial results with moderate/insufficient therapeutic responses. Different priming methods were tested to improve MSC effects, and three-dimensional (3D) culturing techniques were also examined. MSC spheroids display increased therapeutic properties, and, in this context, it is crucial…

Extracellular Heat Shock Proteins as Therapeutic Targets and Biomarkers in Fibrosing Interstitial Lung Diseases.

2021

Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) include a large number of diseases and causes with variable outcomes often associated with progressive fibrosis. Although each of the individual fibrosing ILDs are rare, collectively, they affect a considerable number of patients, representing a significant burden of disease. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the typical chronic fibrosing ILD associated with progressive decline in lung. Other fibrosing ILDs are often associated with connective tissues diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis-ILD (RA-ILD) and systemic sclerosis-associated ILD (SSc-ILD), or environmental/drug exposure. Given the vast number of progressive fibrosing ILDs and the dispariti…

The GRP94 Inhibitor PU-WS13 Decreases M2-like Macrophages in Murine TNBC Tumors: A Pharmaco-Imaging Study with 99mTc-Tilmanocept SPECT

2021

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancers and is not eligible for hormone and anti-HER2 therapies. Identifying therapeutic targets and associated biomarkers in TNBC is a clinical challenge to improve patients’ outcome and management. High infiltration of CD206+ M2-like macrophages in the tumor microenvironment (TME) indicates poor prognosis and survival in TNBC patients. As we previously showed that membrane expression of GRP94, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone, was associated with the anti-inflammatory profile of human PBMC-derived M2 macrophages, we hypothesized that intra-tumoral CD206+ M2 macrophages expressing GRP94 may represent innovative…