BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with thymus involution leading to a reduction in naive T cells and to an accumulation of effector-memory cells. Apoptosis is a key mechanism to clear the immune system from activated and harmful cells. In asthma the stimulation of T cells by environmental antigens can decrease naive cells and sustain activated cells. The aim of this work was to evaluate the imbalance between CD45...
BACKGROUND: Airway walls in asthma present an accumulation of activated cells that determine bronchial structural changes and disease progression and severity. During the aging process, the immunoinflammatory response changes as a consequence of chronic antigenic stress. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate T-cell subsets with regulatory functions associated with asthma in elderly patients METHODS: A group of 153 individuals...
A asma é uma doença inflamatória crónica das vias aéreas, e os linfócitos T desempenham um papel central na sua patogénese. Na inflamação alérgica quer os eosinófilos quer os linfócitos T podem ter um tempo de vida aumentado no local da inflamação, por redução da apoptose, mantendo-se activados. No pulmão encontra-se uma subclasse de linfócitos T que expressa receptor γδ. Estes linfócitos T γδ (TCRγδ) represent...
BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. The persistence of airway inflammation depends on a decrease in apoptosis of T lymphocytes and eosinophils and survival of these activated cells. T lymphocytes expressing gamma delta receptors can be identified in human lungs and play an important role in immune defence against pathogens and in the regulation of chronic inflammation. Aging is...
Neopterin is synthesized by human monocyte-derived macrophages upon stimulation with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). Measurement of neopterin concentration is useful to monitor cell-mediated (Th1-type) immune activation. In this study, we aimed to analyze the behaviour of neopterin in long lasting asthma considering its role as a marker of the Th1 environment and to establish the distinction between patients belo...
The substance P (SP) was described in the beginning of the XXth Century, and its biological actions was recognized to have implications in neurogenic inflammation and constriction of smooth muscles. The bronchial asthma prevalence has been increasing in all developed countries. The changes associated to inflammatory chronicity can compromise the organ function reversibility. The role of neuromechanisms in the p...
Background: Substance P (SP) was described at the beginning of the 20th Century, and its biological action was recognized to have implications in neurogenic inflammation and constriction of smooth muscles. The changes associated with inflammatory chronicity can compromise organ function reversibility. The role of neuromechanisms in the pathology of the disease has been investigated in order to achieve better di...
Asthma is a condition characterised by a chronic immunoinflammatory response to different triggers. Neopterin (NPT) is synthesised by human macrophages upon stimulation with interferon-gamma and is also capable of enhancing the oxidative potential of reactive oxygen species. NPT is useful for the monitoring of cell-mediated (Th1-type) immune activation. This study analysed the behaviour of NPT in long lasting a...
An important reduction in morbidity and mortality due to hepatitis B was achieved with the discovery of an effective vaccine. However, 2 to 10% of healthy adults do not respond to vaccination with the production of protective levels of antibody anti-HBs (assumed as protective, concentrations of ab. anti-HBs > 10 UI/L). Therefore, the aim of the present work was to study epidemiological (sex, age, obesity, alcoh...