1. Prognostic role of NK cell percentages in bronchoalveolar lavage from patients with different fibrotic interstitial lung diseases
- Author
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Ambra Otranto, Paolo Cameli, Laura Bergantini, Piersante Sestini, Elena Bargagli, Tommaso Finco, Giuseppe Curatola, and Miriana d'Alessandro
- Subjects
Male ,NK ,Immunology ,Lymphocyte Immunophenotyping ,Cell ,Kaplan-Meier Estimate ,Immunophenotyping ,Pathogenesis ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Humans ,Connective Tissue Diseases ,Survival rate ,Lung ,Aged ,Aged, 80 and over ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Effector ,Significant difference ,respiratory system ,Middle Aged ,Prognosis ,Fibrosis ,Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis ,respiratory tract diseases ,Respiratory Function Tests ,Killer Cells, Natural ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Bronchoalveolar lavage ,Fibrotic ILD ,Natural Killer T-Cells ,Female ,business ,Lung Diseases, Interstitial ,Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ,Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic - Abstract
BAL cellularity and lymphocyte immunophenotyping offer insights into lung inflammatory status. Natural killer (NK) cells are efficient effector cells, producing pro-inflammatory cytokines. A better understanding of the biology of NK cells in BAL in the lungs is necessary to improve the pathogenesis of fibrotic ILD and develop prospective targeted treatments. Our aim was to analyse NK and NKT-like cell percentages in BAL from 159 patients with different ILD: f-HP, f-NSIP, IPF and CTD-ILD, to evaluate their potential diagnostic/prognostic role. BAL NK cell percentages showed significantly higher values in IPF than in f-HP and f-NSIP, while BAL NKT-like cells showed significantly lower values in the f-NSIP than the f-HP and IPF. A cut-off of 4%NK cells in BAL of IPF showed a significant difference in survival rate. It suggests a possible new marker of survival and raises the possibility of new targeted approach in treatment and management of IPF.
- Published
- 2021