SUL-151 Decreases Airway Neutrophilia as a Prophylactic and Therapeutic Treatment in Mice after Cigarette Smoke Exposure

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) caused by cigarette smoke (CS) is featured by oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. Due to the poor efficacy of standard glucocorticoid therapy, new treatments are required. Here, we investigated whether the novel compound SUL-151 with mitoprotective properties can be used as a prophylactic and therapeutic treatment in a murine CS-induced inflammation model. SUL-151 (4 mg/kg), budesonide (500 μg/kg), or vehicle were administered via oropharyngeal instillation in this prophylactic and therapeutic treatment setting. The number of immune cells was determined in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Oxidative stress response, mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, and mitophagy-related proteins were measured in lung homogenates. SUL-151 significantly decreased more than 70% and 50% of CS-induced neutrophils in BALF after prophylactic and therapeutic administration, while budesonide showed no significant reduction in neutrophils. Moreover, SUL-151 prevented the CS-induced decrease in ATP and mitochondrial mtDNA and an increase in putative protein kinase 1 expression in the lung homogenates. The concentration of SUL-151 was significantly correlated with malondialdehyde level and radical scavenging activity in the lungs. SUL-151 inhibited the increased pulmonary inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction in this CS-induced inflammation model, which implied that SUL-151 might be a promising candidate for COPD treatment.     

Asthma and COPD proteomics: Current approaches and future directions

Although asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD represent the two most common chronic respiratory diseases worldwide, the mechanisms underlying their pathobiology need to be further elucidated. Presently, differentiation of asthma and COPD are largely based on clinical and lung function parameters. However, the complexity of these multifactorial diseases may lead to misclassification and to inappropriate management strategies. Recently, tremendous progress in MS has extended the sensitivity, accuracy, and speed of analysis, enabling the identification of thousands of proteins per experiment. Beyond identification, MS has also greatly implemented quantitation issues allowing to assess qualitative–quantitative differences in protein profiles of different samples, in particular diseased versus normal. Herein, we provide a summary of recent proteomics-based investigations in the field of asthma/COPD, highlighting major issues related to sampling and processing procedures for proteomic analyses of specific airway and parenchymal specimens (induced sputum, exhaled breath condensate, epithelial lining fluid, bronchoalveolar and nasal lavage fluid), as well as blood-derived specimen (plasma and serum). Within such a context, together with current difficulties and limitations mainly due to lack of general standardization in preanalytical sampling procedure, our discussion will focus on the challenges and possible benefits of proteomic studies in phenotypic stratification of asthma and COPD.     

Potential Mechanisms Linking Atherosclerosis and Increased Cardiovascular Risk in COPD: Focus On Sirtuins

The development of atherosclerosis is a multi-step process, at least in part controlled by the vascular endothelium function. Observations in humans and experimental models of atherosclerosis have identified monocyte recruitment as an early event in atherogenesis. Chronic inflammation is associated with ageing and its related diseases (e.g., atherosclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Recently it has been discovered that Sirtuins (NAD⁺-dependent deacetylases) represent a pivotal regulator of longevity and health. They appear to have a prominent role in vascular biology and regulate aspects of age-dependent atherosclerosis. Many studies demonstrate that SIRT1 exhibits anti-inflammatory properties in vitro (e.g., fatty acid-induced inflammation), in vivo (e.g., atherosclerosis, sustainment of normal immune function in knock-out mice) and in clinical studies (e.g., patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Because of a significant reduction of SIRT1 in rodent lungs exposed to cigarette smoke and in lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), activation of SIRT1 may be a potential target for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease therapy. We review the inflammatory mechanisms involved in COPD-CVD coexistence and the potential role of SIRT1 in the regulation of these systems.     

Conditioned Media of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Suppresses Sidestream Cigarette Smoke Extract Induced Cell Death and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Lung Epithelial Cells

The role of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in lung epithelial cells is increasingly being recognized as a key stage in the development of COPD, fibrosis, and lung cancers, which are all highly associated with cigarette smoking and with exposure to second-hand smoke. Using the exposure of human lung cancer epithelial A549 cells and non-cancerous Beas-2B cells to sidestream cigarette smoke extract (CSE) as a model, we studied the protective effects of adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned medium (ADSC-CM) against CSE-induced cell death and EMT. CSE dose-dependently induced cell death, decreased epithelial markers, and increased the expression of mesenchymal markers. Upstream regulator analysis of differentially expressed genes after CSE exposure revealed similar pathways as those observed in typical EMT induced by TGF-β1. CSE-induced cell death was clearly attenuated by ADSC-CM but not by other control media, such as a pass-through fraction of ADSC-CM or A549-CM. ADSC-CM effectively inhibited CSE-induced EMT and was able to reverse the gradual loss of epithelial marker expression associated with TGF-β1 treatment. CSE or TGF-β1 enhanced the speed of A549 migration by 2- to 3-fold, and ADSC-CM was effective in blocking the cell migration induced by either agent. Future work will build on the results of this in vitro study by defining the molecular mechanisms through which ADSC-CM protects lung epithelial cells from EMT induced by toxicants in second-hand smoke.     

基于HHT-MFCC和短时能量的慢性阻塞性肺病患者呼吸声识别

为了优化梅尔频率倒谱系数(MFCC)特征提取算法,提高对呼吸声信号识别的准确率,实现识别慢性阻塞性肺病(COPD)的目的,提出了基于希尔伯特黄变换(HHT)的MFCC与短时能量(Energy)融合的特征提取算法HHT-MFCC+Energy.首先,经预处理的呼吸声信号通过HHT计算出Hilbert边际谱和边际谱能量;其...     

COPD多维特征提取与集成诊断方法

目前对慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）的研究存在局限性,一方面,研究成果只利用数据分析单一特征对疾病的影响;另一方面,研究成果仅通过简单算法模型对病例数据验证,因此提出了COPD多维特征提取与集成诊断方法。首先,提出最大依赖度MDF-RS算法,提取多维特征的最优组合;其次,提出DSA-SVM集成模型,构建分类器进行诊断及预测;最后,利用交叉验证方法验证准确率等各项性能指标。通过实验对比验证了提出算法的有效性。     

Untargeted metabolomics of human plasma reveal lipid markers unique to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by airway inflammation and progressive airflow limitation, whereas idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterised by a restrictive pattern due to fibrosis and impaired gas exchange. We undertook metabolomic analysis of blood samples in IPF, COPD and healthy controls (HC) to determine differences in circulating molecules and identify novel pathogenic pathways. An untargeted metabolomics using an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) was performed to profile plasma of patients with COPD (n = 21), and IPF (n = 24) in comparison to plasma from healthy controls (HC; n = 20). The most significant features were identified using multiple database matching. One-way ANOVA and variable importance in projection (VIP) scores were also used to highlight metabolites that influence the specific disease groups. Non-polar metabolites such as fatty acids (FA) and membrane lipids were well resolved and a total of 4805 features were identified. The most prominent metabolite composition differences in lipid mediators identified at ∼2–3 fold higher in both diseases compared to HC were palmitoleic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid; and dihydrotestosterone was lower in both diseases. We demonstrated that COPD and IPF were characterised by systemic changes in lipid constituents such as essential FA sampled from circulating plasma.     

The Serpin Superfamily and Their Role in the Regulation and Dysfunction of Serine Protease Activity in COPD and Other Chronic Lung Diseases

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating heterogeneous disease characterised by unregulated proteolytic destruction of lung tissue mediated via a protease-antiprotease imbalance. In COPD, the relationship between the neutrophil serine protease, neutrophil elastase, and its endogenous inhibitor, alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) is the best characterised. AAT belongs to a superfamily of serine protease inhibitors known as serpins. Advances in screening technologies have, however, resulted in many members of the serpin superfamily being identified as having differential expression across a multitude of chronic lung diseases compared to healthy individuals. Serpins exhibit a unique suicide-substrate mechanism of inhibition during which they undergo a dramatic conformational change to a more stable form. A limitation is that this also renders them susceptible to disease-causing mutations. Identification of the extent of their physiological/pathological role in the airways would allow further expansion of knowledge regarding the complexity of protease regulation in the lung and may provide wider opportunity for their use as therapeutics to aid the management of COPD and other chronic airways diseases.     

N-乙酰半胱氨酸治疗慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者疗效和作用机制研究

目的: 探讨N-乙酰半胱氨酸(NAC)治疗慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)的临床疗效和作用机制。方法: 将78 例COPD 患者随机分为治疗组和对照组,观察其治疗前后对痰液炎症细胞计数及核因子-kB(NF-kB)、白细胞介素8(IL-8)、肿瘤坏死因子α(TNF-α)水平的影响,以及对临床症状、肺功能指标和血丙二醛(MDA)、全血超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)和血清血管紧张素Ⅰ转换酶(ACE)活性及血内皮素-1(ET-1)含量的变化情况,并与20 名健康人作比较。结果: 78 例COPD 患者中脱落5 例(治疗组3 例,对照组2例)。NAC 治疗COPD 的总显效率为72.50 %,总有效率为87.50 %,与对照组比较有显著性差异(P<0.05)。与对照组比较,治疗组能明显改善肺功能指标(FEV1 、FVC 、mPAP)和血MDA 、SOD 、ACE 活性及ET-1 含量(P<0.05)。治疗后治疗组痰液中性粒细胞(PMN)、非中性粒细胞(mPMN);IL-8 、TNF-α和NFkB活性(A 值)较治疗前显著降低(P<0.01),降低作用优于对照组(P<0.05),治疗期间未见明显毒副作用。结论: NAC 治疗COPD 患者可改善其临床症状和肺功能,安全性良好,通过增强抗氧化能力和减轻COPD 患者气道炎症反应而发挥其治疗作用。