Project description:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent disease leading to irreversible airflow limitation and is characterized by chronic pulmonary inflammation,obstructive bronchiolitis and emphysema. Etiologically, COPD is mediated by toxic gases and particles, e.g. cigarette smoke, while the pathogenesis of the disease is largely unknown. Several lines of evidence indicate a link between COPD and autoimmunity but comprehensive studies are lacking. By using a protein microarray assaying more than 19,000 human proteins we determined in this study the autoantibody profiles of COPD and non-COPD smokers.
Project description:Background: CD8 cells seem to play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, relatively little is known about their phenotype and function. Aims: To define the transcriptome of pulmonary CD8 cells in COPD and compare to paired circulating CD8 cells and smoker control pulmonary CD8 cells. COPD was defined according to the Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines. Severity of disease was defined according to the patients lung function. In particular the forced evpiratroy volume in 1 second (FEV1).
Project description:Rationale: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections and hospitalizations in infants worldwide. Known risk factors, however, incompletely explain the variability of RSV disease severity among children. We postulate that severity of RSV infection is influenced in part by modulation of the host immune response by the local microbial ecosystem at the time of infection. Objectives: To define whether different nasopharyngeal microbiota profiles are associated with distinct host transcriptome profiles and severity in children with RSV infection. Methods: We analyzed the nasopharyngeal microbiota profiles of young children with mild and severe RSV disease and healthy matched controls by 16S-rRNA sequencing. In parallel, we analyzed whole blood gene expression profiles to study the relationship between microbial community composition, the RSV-induced host transcriptional response and clinical disease severity. Measurements and Main results: We identified five nasopharyngeal microbiota profiles characterized by enrichment of H. influenzae, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium, Moraxella or S. aureus. RSV infection and RSV hospitalization were positively associated with H. influenzae and Streptococcus, and negatively associated with S. aureus abundance, independent of age. The host response to RSV was defined by overexpression of interferon-related genes, and this was independent of the microbiota composition. On the other hand, transcriptome profiles of RSV infected children with H. influenzae and Streptococcus-dominated microbiota were characterized by greater overexpression of genes linked to toll-like receptor-signaling and neutrophil activation and were more frequently hospitalized Conclusions: Our data suggest an immunomodulatory role for the resident nasopharyngeal microbial community early in RSV infection, potentially affecting RSV disease severity.
Project description:Gene expression profiles were generated from induced sputum samples in COPD and healthy controls. The study identified transcriptional phenotypes of COPD.
Project description:Methods: This study analyzed lung tissue sequencing data from early-stage COPD patients (GSE47460) and smoke-exposed mice. We employed Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) and machine learning to identify potential pathogenic genes. Further analyses included single-cell sequencing from mice and COPD patients to identify gene expression in specific cell subgroups. Cell-chat and pseudo-temporal analyses were conducted, with findings validated in smoke-exposed mice. Additionally, Mendelian randomization (MR) was utilized to verify the relationship between candidate genes and lung function/COPD. Lastly, functional validation was performed in vitro in cell cultures. Results: "Machine learning analysis of 30 differentially expressed genes pinpointed 8 key genes, with CLEC5A identified as a potential pathogenic factor in early COPD. Bioinformatics suggested CLEC5A's role in macrophage-mediated inflammation in COPD. Two-sample Mendelian randomization linked CLEC5A SNPs with FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and emphysema/chronic bronchitis. In vitro, CLEC5A knockdown reduced inflammatory markers in macrophages. Conclusion: Our study identifies CLEC5A as a pivotal gene in early-stage COPD, contributing to its pathogenesis through pro-inflammatory mechanisms. This discovery offers insights for early diagnosis and treatment strategies in COPD, highlighting CLEC5A as a target for further research.
Project description:Lung tissue of COPD patients and tissue of non-smokers was investigated in transcriptome analysis with regard to differences in RNA expression levels to identify target genes for COPD treatment.
Project description:Induced sputum is used to sample inflammatory cells, predominantly neutrophils and macrophages, from the airways of COPD patients. Our aim was to identify candidate genes associated with the degree of airflow obstruction and the extent of emphysema by expression profiling, and then to confirm these findings for selected candidates using specific PCR and protein analysis. Two sputum studies were performed in GOLD stage 2 -4 COPD ex-smokers from the ECLIPSE cohort. First, gene array profiling at baseline in 1480 patients was performed. At year 1, samples from a separate population of 176 patients were used for real-time PCR. The gene expression findings for IL-18R were further analysed using immunohistochemistry in lung tissue and induced sputum samples from patients outside the ECLIPSE cohort.
Project description:The peri-bronchial zone of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the site of extensive infiltration of immune cell, allowing persistent contacts between resident cells and immune cells. Tissue fibrocytes interaction with CD8+ T cells and its consequences were investigated. We show that fibrocytes and CD8+ T cells are found in vicinity in distal airways and that potential interactions are more frequent in tissues from COPD patients compared to those of control subjects. Increased proximity and clusterization between CD8+ T cells and fibrocytes are associated with altered lung function. Tissular CD8+ T cells from COPD patients promote fibrocyte chemotaxis via the CXCL8-CXCR1/2 axis. CD8+ T cells establish short-term interactions with fibrocytes, that trigger CD8+ T cell proliferation in a CD54- and CD86-dependent manner, pro-inflammatory cytokines production, CD8+ T cell cytotoxic activity and fibrocyte immunologic signaling. We defined a computational model describing these intercellular interactions and calibrated the parameters based on our experimental measurements. We showed the model’s ability to reproduce histological ex vivo characteristics, and observed major contributions of fibrocyte-mediated CD8+ T cell proliferation and fibrocyte death in COPD development. Using the model to test therapeutic scenarios, we predicted a recovery time of several years, and the failure of targeting independently chemotaxis or interacting processes. Altogether, our study reveals that local interactions between fibrocytes and CD8+ T cells can occur in vivo and could jeopardize the balance between protective immunity and chronic inflammation in bronchi of COPD patients.