| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Östling, Jörgen, et al.
(författare)
-
IL-17-high asthma with features of a psoriasis immunophenotype
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. - : Elsevier. - 0091-6749 .- 1097-6825. ; 144:5, s. 1198-1213
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The role of IL-17 immunity is well established in patients with inflammatory diseases, such as psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease, but not in asthmatic patients, in whom further study is required.Objective: We sought to undertake a deep phenotyping study of asthmatic patients with upregulated IL-17 immunity.Methods: Whole-genome transcriptomic analysis was performed by using epithelial brushings, bronchial biopsy specimens (91 asthmatic patients and 46 healthy control subjects), and whole blood samples (n = 498) from the Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes (U-BIOPRED) cohort. Gene signatures induced in vitro by IL-17 and IL-13 in bronchial epithelial cells were used to identify patients with IL-17–high and IL-13–high asthma phenotypes.Results: Twenty-two of 91 patients were identified with IL-17, and 9 patients were identified with IL-13 gene signatures. The patients with IL-17–high asthma were characterized by risk of frequent exacerbations, airway (sputum and mucosal) neutrophilia, decreased lung microbiota diversity, and urinary biomarker evidence of activation of the thromboxane B2 pathway. In pathway analysis the differentially expressed genes in patients with IL-17-high asthma were shared with those reported as altered in psoriasis lesions and included genes regulating epithelial barrier function and defense mechanisms, such as IL1B, IL6, IL8, and β-defensin.Conclusion: The IL-17–high asthma phenotype, characterized by bronchial epithelial dysfunction and upregulated antimicrobial and inflammatory response, resembles the immunophenotype of psoriasis, including activation of the thromboxane B2 pathway, which should be considered a biomarker for this phenotype in further studies, including clinical trials targeting IL-17.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jevnikar, Z., et al.
(författare)
-
Epithelial IL-6 trans-signaling defines a new asthma phenotype with increased airway inflammation
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0091-6749 .- 1097-6825. ; 143:2, s. 577-590
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Although several studies link high levels of IL-6 and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) to asthma severity and decreased lung function, the role of IL-6 trans-signaling (IL-6TS) in asthmatic patients is unclear. Objective: We sought to explore the association between epithelial IL-6TS pathway activation and molecular and clinical phenotypes in asthmatic patients. Methods: An IL-6TS gene signature obtained from air-liquid interface cultures of human bronchial epithelial cells stimulated with IL-6 and sIL-6R was used to stratify lung epithelial transcriptomic data (Unbiased Biomarkers in Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes [U-BIOPRED] cohorts) by means of hierarchical clustering. IL-6TS-specific protein markers were used to stratify sputum biomarker data (Wessex cohort). Molecular phenotyping was based on transcriptional profiling of epithelial brushings, pathway analysis, and immunohistochemical analysis of bronchial biopsy specimens. Results: Activation of IL-6TS in air-liquid interface cultures reduced epithelial integrity and induced a specific gene signature enriched in genes associated with airway remodeling. The IL-6TS signature identified a subset of patients with IL-6TS-high asthma with increased epithelial expression of IL-6TS-inducible genes in the absence of systemic inflammation. The IL-6TS-high subset had an overrepresentation of frequent exacerbators, blood eosinophilia, and submucosal infiltration of T cells and macrophages. In bronchial brushings Toll-like receptor pathway genes were upregulated, whereas expression of cell junction genes was reduced. Sputum sIL-6R and IL-6 levels correlated with sputum markers of remodeling and innate immune activation, in particular YKL-40, matrix metalloproteinase 3, macrophage inflammatory protein 1 beta, IL-8, and IL-1 beta. Conclusions: Local lung epithelial IL-6TS activation in the absence of type 2 airway inflammation defines a novel subset of asthmatic patients and might drive airway inflammation and epithelial dysfunction in these patients.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Reinke, SN, et al.
(författare)
-
Urinary metabotype of severe asthma evidences decreased carnitine metabolism independent of oral corticosteroid treatment in the U-BIOPRED study
- 2022
-
Ingår i: The European respiratory journal. - : European Respiratory Society (ERS). - 1399-3003 .- 0903-1936. ; 59:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with poorly defined phenotypes. Patients with severe asthma often receive multiple treatments including oral corticosteroids (OCS). Treatment may modify the observed metabotype, rendering it challenging to investigate underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we aimed to identify dysregulated metabolic processes in relation to asthma severity and medication.MethodsBaseline urine was collected prospectively from healthy participants (n=100), patients with mild-to-moderate asthma (n=87) and patients with severe asthma (n=418) in the cross-sectional U-BIOPRED cohort; 12–18-month longitudinal samples were collected from patients with severe asthma (n=305). Metabolomics data were acquired using high-resolution mass spectrometry and analysed using univariate and multivariate methods.ResultsA total of 90 metabolites were identified, with 40 significantly altered (p<0.05, false discovery rate <0.05) in severe asthma and 23 by OCS use. Multivariate modelling showed that observed metabotypes in healthy participants and patients with mild-to-moderate asthma differed significantly from those in patients with severe asthma (p=2.6×10−20), OCS-treated asthmatic patients differed significantly from non-treated patients (p=9.5×10−4), and longitudinal metabotypes demonstrated temporal stability. Carnitine levels evidenced the strongest OCS-independent decrease in severe asthma. Reduced carnitine levels were associated with mitochondrial dysfunction via decreases in pathway enrichment scores of fatty acid metabolism and reduced expression of the carnitine transporter SLC22A5 in sputum and bronchial brushings.ConclusionsThis is the first large-scale study to delineate disease- and OCS-associated metabolic differences in asthma. The widespread associations with different therapies upon the observed metabotypes demonstrate the need to evaluate potential modulating effects on a treatment- and metabolite-specific basis. Altered carnitine metabolism is a potentially actionable therapeutic target that is independent of OCS treatment, highlighting the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in severe asthma.
|
|
| 7. |
- Efe, C., et al.
(författare)
-
Efficacy and Safety of Mycophenolate Mofetil and Tacrolimus as Second-line Therapy for Patients With Autoimmune Hepatitis
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1542-3565 .- 1542-7714. ; 15:12
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND & AIMS: Predniso(lo) ne, alone or in combination with azathioprine, is the standard-of-care (SOC) therapy for autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). However, the SOC therapy is poorly tolerated or does not control disease activity in up to 20% of patients. We assessed the efficacy of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and tacrolimus as second-line therapy for patients with AIH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of data (from 19 centers in Europe, the United States, Canada, and China) from 201 patients with AIH who received second-line therapy (121 received MMF and 80 received tacrolimus), for a median of 62 months (range, 6-190 mo). Patients were categorized according to their response to SOC. Patients in group 1 (n = 108) had a complete response to the SOC, but were switched to second-line therapy as a result of side effects of predniso(lo) ne or azathioprine, whereas patients in group 2 (n = 93) had not responded to SOC. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with a complete response to MMF (69.4%) vs tacrolimus (72.5%) (P = .639). In group 1, MMF and tacrolimus maintained a biochemical remission in 91.9% and 94.1% of patients, respectively (P = .682). Significantly more group 2 patients given tacrolimus compared with MMF had a complete response (56.5% vs 34%, respectively; P = .029) There were similar proportions of liver-related deaths or liver transplantation among patients given MMF (13.2%) vs tacrolimus (10.3%) (log-rank, P = .472). Ten patients receiving MMF (8.3%) and 10 patients receiving tacrolimus (12.5%) developed side effects that required therapy withdrawal. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term therapy with MMF or tacrolimus generally was well tolerated by patients with AIH. The agents were equally effective in previous complete responders who did not tolerate SOC therapy. Tacrolimus led to a complete response in a greater proportion of previous nonresponder patients compared with MMF.
|
|
| 8. |
- Efe, C., et al.
(författare)
-
Extrahepatic autoimmune diseases in primary biliary cholangitis: Prevalence and significance for clinical presentation and disease outcome
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. - : Wiley. - 0815-9319 .- 1440-1746. ; 36:4, s. 936-942
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Aim The prevalence and clinical significance of extrahepatic autoimmune diseases (EHAIDs) have not been evaluated in a large cohort of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Methods The medical records of 1554 patients with PBC from 20 international centers were retrospectively reviewed. Development of decompensated cirrhosis (ascites, variceal bleeding, and/or hepatic encephalopathy) and hepatocellular carcinoma were considered clinical endpoints. Results A total of 35 different EHAIDs were diagnosed in 440 (28.3%) patients with PBC. Patients with EHAIDs were more often female (92.5%vs86.1%,P < 0.001) and seropositive for anti-mitochondrial antibodies (88%vs84%,P = 0.05) and antinuclear antibodies and/or smooth muscle antibodies (53.8%vs43.6%,P = 0.005). At presentation, patients with EHAIDs had significantly lower levels of alkaline phosphatase (1.76vs1.98 x upper limit of normal [ULN],P = 0.006), aspartate aminotransferase (1.29vs1.50 x ULN,P < 0.001), and total bilirubin (0.53vs0.58 x ULN,P = 0.002). Patients with EHAIDs and without EHAIDs had similar rates of GLOBE high-risk status (12.3%vs16.1%,P = 0.07) and Paris II response (71.4%vs69.4%,P = 0.59). Overall, event-free survival was not different in patients with and without EHAIDs (90.8%vs90.7%,P = 0.53, log rank). Coexistence of each autoimmune thyroid diseases (10.6%), Sjogren disease (8.3%), systemic sclerosis (2.9%), rheumatoid arthritis (2.7%), systemic lupus erythematosus (1.7%), celiac disease (1.7%), psoriasis (1.5%), and inflammatory bowel diseases (1.3%) did not influence the outcome. Conclusions Our study confirms that EHAIDs are frequently diagnosed in patients with PBC. The presence of EHAIDs may influence the clinical phenotype of PBC at presentation but has no impact on PBC outcome.
|
|
| 9. |
- Efe, C., et al.
(författare)
-
Validation of Risk Scoring Systems in Ursodeoxycholic Acid-Treated Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis
- 2019
-
Ingår i: American Journal of Gastroenterology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0002-9270 .- 1572-0241. ; 114:7, s. 1101-1108
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION: Risk stratification based on biochemical variables is a useful tool for monitoring ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA)-treated patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Several UDCA response criteria and scoring systems have been proposed for risk prediction in PBC, but these have not been validated in large external cohorts. METHODS: We performed a study on data of 1746 UDCA-treated patients with PBC from 25 centers in Europe, United States, and Canada. The prognostic performance of the risk scoring systems (GLOBE and UK-PBC) and the UDCA response criteria (Barcelona, Paris I, Paris II, Rotterdam, and Toronto) were evaluated. We regarded cirrhosis-related complications (ascites, variceal bleeding, and/or hepatic encephalopathy) as clinical end points. RESULTS: A total of 171 patients reached a clinical end point during a median 7 years (range 1-16 years) of follow-up. The 5-, 10- and 15-year adverse outcome-free survivals were 95%, 85%, and 77%. The GLOBE and UK-PBC scores predicted cirrhosis-related complications better than the UDCA response criteria. The hazard ratio (HR) for a 1 standard deviation increase was HR 5.05 (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.43-5.74, P < 0.001) for the GLOBE score and HR 3.39 (95% CI: 3.10-3.72, P < 0.001) for the UK-PBC score. Overall, the GLOBE and UK-PBC risk scores showed similar and excellent prognostic performance (C-statistic, 0.93; 95% CI: 0.91%-95% vs 0.94; 95% CI: 0.91%-0.96%). DISCUSSION: In our international, multicenter PBC cohort, the GLOBE and UK-PBC risk scoring systems were good predictors of future cirrhosis-related complications.
|
|
| 10. |
- Emma, Rosalia, et al.
(författare)
-
Enhanced oxidative stress in smoking and ex-smoking severe asthma in the U-BIOPRED cohort
- 2018
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library Science. - 1932-6203. ; 13:9
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oxidative stress is believed to be a major driver of inflammation in smoking asthmatics. The U-BIOPRED project recruited a cohort of Severe Asthma smokers/ex-smokers (SAs/ex) and non-smokers (SAn) with extensive clinical and biomarker information enabling characterization of these subjects. We investigated oxidative stress in severe asthma subjects by analysing urinary 8-iso-PGF(2 alpha) and the mRNA-expression of the main pro-oxidant (NOX2; NOSs) and anti-oxidant (SODs; CAT; GPX1) enzymes in the airways of SAs/ex and SAn. All the severe asthma U-BIOPRED subjects were further divided into current smokers with severe asthma (CSA), ex-smokers with severe asthma (ESA) and non-smokers with severe asthma (NSA) to deepen the effect of active smoking. Clinical data, urine and sputum were obtained from severe asthma subjects. A bronchoscopy to obtain bronchial biopsy and brushing was performed in a subset of subjects. The main clinical data were analysed for each subset of subjects (urine-8-iso-PGF(2 alpha); IS-transcriptomics; BB-transcriptomics; BBrtranscriptomics). Urinary 8-iso-PGF(2 alpha) was quantified using mass spectrometry. Sputum, bronchial biopsy and bronchial brushing were processed for mRNA expression microarray analysis. Urinary 8-iso-PGF(2 alpha) was increased in SAs/ex, median (IQR) = 31.7 (24.5 +/- 44.7) ng/mmol creatinine, compared to SAn, median (IQR) = 26.6 (19.6 +/- 36.6) ng/mmol creatinine (p< 0.001), and in CSA, median (IQR) = 34.25 (24.4 +/- 47.7), vs. ESA, median (IQR) = 29.4 (22.3 +/- 40.5), and NSA, median (IQR) = 26.5 (19.6 +/- 16.6) ng/mmol creatinine (p = 0.004). Sputum mRNA expression of NOX2 was increased in SAs/ex compared to SAn (probe sets 203922_PM_s_at fold-change = 1.05 p = 0.006; 203923_PM_s_at fold-change = 1.06, p = 0.003; 233538_PM_s_at fold-change = 1.06, p = 0.014). The mRNA expression of antioxidant enzymes were similar between the two severe asthma cohorts in all airway samples. NOS2 mRNA expression was decreased in bronchial brushing of SAs/ex compared to SAn (fold-change = -1.10; p = 0.029). NOS2 mRNA expression in bronchial brushing correlated with FeNO (Kendal's Tau = 0.535; p< 0.001). From clinical and inflammatory analysis, FeNO was lower in CSA than in ESA in all the analysed subject subsets (p< 0.01) indicating an effect of active smoking. Results about FeNO suggest its clinical limitation, as inflammation biomarker, in severe asthma active smokers. These data provide evidence of greater systemic oxidative stress in severe asthma smokers as reflected by a significant changes of NOX2 mRNA expression in the airways, together with elevated urinary 8-iso-PGF(2 alpha) in the smokers/ex-smokers group.
|
|
