Rationale: Recently, models of macrophage activation have been revised. Macrophages
stimulated with Th2 cytokines have been classified as alternatively activated. Objectives: This …

Rationale: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating lung disease with a poor
prognosis. There is great effort to find predictors of outcome. Conclusive data for any serum …

Activated macrophages have been characterized as M1 and M2 according to their inflammatory
response pattern. Here we analyzed the M2 marker expression and intracellular signal …

At the time of diagnosis, many sarcoidosis patients have no clinical indication for corticosteroid
therapy, and prognostic parameters predicting deterioration are missing. In the present …

Objective In diffuse parenchymal lung diseases, the evolution of pulmonary fibrosis is often
devastating and may result in death. In this study the role of CCL18 as a biomarker of …

The neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), commonly known as serotonin, is stored
at peripheral sites in mast cells and released from this peripheral source upon IgE cross-…

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection determines the course of cystic fibrosis
(CF) lung disease. Studies in human peripheral blood indicate that P aeruginosa infection …

Rationale: Extracellular ATP promotes inflammation, but its role in chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) is unknown. Objectives: To analyze the expression of ATP and its …

Background Acute exacerbation (AE) of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a common
cause of disease acceleration in IPF and has a major impact on mortality. The role of …

It has been shown that interleukin 8 (IL-8) is increased in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF)
of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and there is increasing evidence that it …