American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Sep 2018
Endothelial and Smooth Muscle Cell Interaction via FoxM1 Signaling Mediates Vascular Remodeling and Pulmonary Hypertension.
Angioproliferative vasculopathy is a hallmark of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, little is known about how endothelial cell (EC) and smooth muscle cell (SMC) crosstalk regulates the angioproliferative vascular remodeling. ⋯ Multiple factors derived from dysfunctional ECs induced FoxM1 expression in SMCs and activated FoxM1-dependent SMC proliferation, which contributes to pulmonary vascular remodeling and PH. Thus, targeting FoxM1 signaling represents a novel strategy for treatment of idiopathic PAH.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Sep 2018
Short-Term Elevation of Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Acute Lower Respiratory Infection.
Nearly 60% of U.S. children live in counties with particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) concentrations above air quality standards. Understanding the relationship between ambient air pollution exposure and health outcomes informs actions to reduce exposure and disease risk. ⋯ In this large sample of urban/suburban patients, short-term exposure to elevated PM2.5 air pollution was associated with greater healthcare use for ALRI in young children, older children, and adults. Further exploration is needed of causal interactions between PM2.5 and ALRI.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Sep 2018
Circulating and Tumor Myeloid-derived Suppressor Cells in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
Myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) expansion has been found to play a role in disease progression in patients with cancer. However, the characteristics of MDSCs in lung cancer are poorly understood. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the level of MDSCs in the peripheral blood but not in tumor tissues predicts recurrence after surgery.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Sep 2018
Predicting Outcomes in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Using Automated Computed Tomographic Analysis.
Quantitative computed tomographic (CT) measures of baseline disease severity might identify patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) with an increased mortality risk. We evaluated whether quantitative CT variables could act as a cohort enrichment tool in future IPF drug trials. ⋯ Our study has validated a new quantitative CT measure in patients with IPF fulfilling drug trial entry criteria-the VRS score-that outperformed current gold standard measures of outcome. When used for cohort enrichment in an IPF drug trial setting, VRS threshold scores can reduce a required IPF drug trial population size by 25%, thereby limiting prohibitive trial costs. Importantly, VRS scores identify patients in whom antifibrotic medication prolongs life and reduces FVC decline.