Immune inflammation and disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Abstract

The clinical course in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is highly heterogeneous, with some patients having a slow progression and others an accelerated clinical and functional decline. This study aims to clinically characterize the type of progression in IPF and to investigate the pathological basis that might account for the observed differences in disease behavior. Clinical and functional data were analyzed in 73 IPF patients, followed long-time as candidates for lung transplantation. The forced vital capacity (FVC) change/year (< or ≥10% predicted) was used to define "slow" or "rapid" disease progression. Pathological abnormalities were quantified in the explanted lung of 41 out of 73 patients undergoing lung transplantation. At diagnosis, slow progressors (n = 48) showed longer duration of symptoms and lower FVC than rapid progressors (n = 25). Eleven slow and 3 rapid progressors developed an acute exacerbation (AE) during follow-up. Quantitative lung pathology showed a severe innate and adaptive inflammatory infiltrate in rapid progressors, markedly increased compared to slow progressors and similar to that observed in patients experiencing AE. The extent of inflammation was correlated with the yearly FVC decline (r = 0.52, p = 0.005). In conclusion an innate and adaptive inflammation appears to be a prominent feature in the lung of patients with IPF and could contribute to determining of the rate of disease progression.


Autore Pugliese

Tutti gli autori

  • MARULLI G.

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile


Anno di pubblicazione

2016

ISSN

1932-6203

ISBN

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Wos

19

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Scopus

20

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile


Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile