Lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) catalyses collagen cross-linking and is implicated in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and ...safety of simtuzumab, a monoclonal antibody against LOXL2, in patients with IPF.
In this randomised, double-blind, phase 2 trial, we recruited patients aged 45-85 years with definite IPF diagnosed prior to 3 years of screening from 183 hospitals and respiratory clinics in 14 countries. Eligible patients, stratified by baseline forced vital capacity (FVC), serum LOXL2 (sLOXL2) concentrations, and pirfenidone and nintedanib use, were randomly assigned (1:1) to inject 125 mg/mL simtuzumab or placebo subcutaneously once a week. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival, defined as time to all-cause death or a categorical decrease from baseline in FVC % predicted, in the intention-to-treat population, in patients with sLOXL2 concentrations in the 50th percentile or higher, and in patients with sLOXL2 concentrations in the 75th percentile or higher. Treatment duration was event-driven, and interim analyses were planned and conducted after approximately 120 and 200 progression-free survival events, respectively, occurred. We compared treatment groups with the stratified log-rank test. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01769196.
Patients with IPF were recruited between Jan 31, 2013, and June 1, 2015. The intention-to-treat population included 544 randomly assigned patients (272 patients in both groups), and the safety population included 543 randomly assigned patients who received at least one dose of study medication. The study was terminated when the second interim analysis met the prespecified futility stopping criteria in the intention-to-treat population. We noted no difference in progression-free survival between simtuzumab and placebo in the intention-to-treat population (median progression free survival times of 12·6 months and 15·4 months for simtuzumab and placebo, respectively; stratified HR 1·13, 95% CI 0·88-1·45; p=0·329) and in patients with baseline sLOXL2 in the 50th percentile or higher (median progression-free survival 11·7 months and 14·3 months for simtuzumab and placebo, respectively; stratified HR 1·03, 95% CI 0·74-1·43; p=0·851), or in the 75th percentile or higher (median progression-free survival 11·6 months and 16·9 months for simtuzumab and placebo, respectively; stratified HR 1·20, 95% CI 0·72-2·00; p=0·475). The incidence of adverse events and serious adverse events was similar between treatment groups. The most common adverse events in both the simtuzumab and placebo groups were dyspnoea, cough, upper respiratory tract infection, and worsening of IPF; and the most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were worsening of IPF, dyspnoea, and pneumonia.
Simtuzumab did not improve progression-free survival in a well-defined population of patients with IPF. Our data do not support the use of simtuzumab for patients with IPF.
Gilead Sciences Inc.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare, complex, connective tissue disorder. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is common in SSc, occurring in 35-52% of patients and accounting for 20-40% of mortality. ...Evolution of therapeutic options has resulted in a lack of consensus on how to manage this condition. This Delphi study was initiated to develop consensus recommendations based on expert physician insights regarding screening, progression, treatment criteria, monitoring of response, and the role of recent therapeutic advances with antifibrotics and immunosuppressants in patients with SSc-ILD.
A modified Delphi process was completed by pulmonologists (n = 13) and rheumatologists (n = 12) with expertise in the management of patients with SSc-ILD. Panelists rated their agreement with each statement on a Likert scale from - 5 (complete disagreement) to + 5 (complete agreement). Consensus was predefined as a mean Likert scale score of ≤ - 2.5 or ≥ + 2.5 with a standard deviation not crossing zero.
Panelists recommended that all patients with SSc be screened for ILD by chest auscultation, spirometry with diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and/or autoantibody testing. Treatment decisions were influenced by baseline and changes in pulmonary function tests, extent of ILD on HRCT, duration and degree of dyspnea, presence of pulmonary hypertension, and potential contribution of reflux. Treatment success was defined as stabilization or improvement of signs or symptoms of ILD and functional status. Mycophenolate mofetil was identified as the initial treatment of choice. Experts considered nintedanib a therapeutic option in patients with progressive fibrotic ILD despite immunosuppressive therapy or patients contraindicated/unable to tolerate immunotherapy. Concomitant use of nintedanib with MMF/cyclophosphamide can be considered in patients with advanced disease at initial presentation, aggressive ILD, or significant disease progression. Although limited consensus was achieved on the use of tocilizumab, the experts considered it a therapeutic option for patients with early SSc and ILD with elevated acute-phase reactants.
This modified Delphi study generated consensus recommendations for management of patients with SSc-ILD in a real-world setting. Findings from this study provide a management algorithm that will be helpful for treating patients with SSc-ILD and addresses a significant unmet need.
Interstitial lung disease is an umbrella term that encompasses a spectrum of parenchymal lung pathologies affecting the gas exchanging part of the lung. While many of these disease entities are not ...fibrotic in nature, a number can lead to pulmonary fibrosis which may or may not progress over time. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the prototypical, progressive fibrotic interstitial lung disease, which can lead to worsening hypoxemic respiratory failure and mortality within a number of years from the time of diagnosis. The importance of an accurate and timely diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases, which is needed to inform prognosis and guide clinical management, cannot be overemphasized. Developing a consensus diagnosis requires the incorporation of a variety of factors by a multidisciplinary team, which then may or may not determine a need for tissue sampling. Clinical management can be challenging given the heterogeneity of disease behavior and the paucity of controlled trials to guide decision making. This review addresses current paradigms and recent updates in the diagnosis and pharmacologic management of these fibrotic interstitial lung diseases.
Small airways are the primary site of pathologic changes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the major smoking-induced lung disorder.
On the basis of the concept of proximal-distal ...patterning that determines regional specialization of the airway epithelium during lung development, we hypothesized that a similar program operates in the adult human lung being altered by smoking, leading to decreased regional identity of the small airway epithelium (SAE).
The proximal and distal airway signatures were identified by comparing the transcriptomes of large and small airway epithelium samples obtained by bronchoscopy from healthy nonsmokers. The expression of these signatures was evaluated in the SAE of healthy smokers and smokers with COPD compared with that of healthy nonsmokers. The capacity of airway basal stem cells (BCs) to maintain region-associated phenotypes was evaluated using the air-liquid interface model.
The distal and proximal airway signatures, containing 134 and 233 genes, respectively, were identified. These signatures included known developmental regulators of airway patterning, as well as novel regulators such as epidermal growth factor receptor, which was associated with the proximal airway phenotype. In the SAE of smokers with COPD, there was a dramatic smoking-dependent loss of the regional transcriptome identity with concomitant proximalization. This repatterning phenotype was reproduced by stimulating SAE BCs with epidermal growth factor, which was up-regulated in the SAE of smokers, during differentiation of SAE BCs in vitro.
Smoking-induced global distal-to-proximal reprogramming of the SAE represents a novel pathologic feature of COPD and is mediated by exaggerated epidermal growth factor/epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in SAE BCs.
There are no pharmacologic agents that modify emphysema progression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
To evaluate the efficacy of losartan, an angiotensin receptor ...blocker, to reduce emphysema progression.
The trial was a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted between May 2017 and January 2021. Eligible participants were aged ⩾40 years, had moderate to severe airflow obstruction, ⩾10 pack-years of smoking, mild-moderate emphysema on high-resolution computed tomography, and no medical indication for or intolerance of angiotensin receptor blockers. Treatment with losartan 100 mg daily or matching placebo (1:1) was randomly assigned. The primary outcome was emphysema progression on high-resolution computed tomography over 48 weeks. Secondary outcomes included the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire, the modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, the COPD Assessment Test, and the Physical Function-Short Form 20a.
A total of 220 participants were enrolled; 58% were men, 19% were African American, and 24% were current smokers. The medians (interquartile ranges) for age were 65 (61-73) years and 48 (36-59) for percent predicted FEV
after bronchodilator use. The mean (95% confidence interval) percentage emphysema progression was 1.35% (0.67-2.03) in the losartan group versus 0.66% (0.09-1.23) in the placebo group (
= NS).
Losartan did not prevent emphysema progression in people with COPD with mild-moderate emphysema. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02696564).
Tobacco smoking has many adverse health consequences. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection smoke at very high rates, and many of the comorbidities associated with smoking in the ...general population are more prevalent in this population. It is likely that a combination of higher smoking rates along with an altered response to cigarette smoke throughout the body in persons with HIV infection leads to increased rates of the known conditions related to smoking. Several AIDS-defining conditions associated with smoking have been reviewed elsewhere. This review aims to summarize the data on non-AIDS-related health consequences of smoking in the HIV-infected population and explore evidence for the potential compounding effects on chronic systemic inflammation due to HIV infection and smoking.
The first step in SARS-CoV-2 infection is binding of the virus to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the airway epithelium. Asthma affects over 300 million people world-wide, many of whom may ...encounter SARS-CoV-2. Epidemiologic data suggests that asthmatics who get infected may be at increased risk of more severe disease. Our objective was to assess whether maintenance inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), a major treatment for asthma, is associated with airway ACE2 expression in asthmatics.
Large airway epithelium (LAE) of asthmatics treated with maintenance ICS (ICS
), asthmatics not treated with ICS (ICS
), and healthy controls (controls) was analyzed for expression of ACE2 and other coronavirus infection-related genes using microarrays.
As a group, there was no difference in LAE ACE2 expression in all asthmatics vs controls. In contrast, subgroup analysis demonstrated that LAE ACE2 expression was higher in asthmatics ICS
compared to ICS‾ and ACE2 expression was higher in male ICS
compared to female ICS
and ICS‾ of either sex. ACE2 expression did not correlate with serum IgE, absolute eosinophil level, or change in FEV1 in response to bronchodilators in either ICS
or ICS
.
Airway ACE2 expression is increased in asthmatics on long-term treatment with ICS, an observation that should be taken into consideration when assessing the use of inhaled corticosteroids during the pandemic.
Acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Collard, Harold R; Moore, Bethany B; Flaherty, Kevin R ...
American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine,
10/2007, Letnik:
176, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The natural history of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has been characterized as a steady, predictable decline in lung function over time. Recent evidence suggests that some patients may ...experience a more precipitous course, with periods of relative stability followed by acute deteriorations in respiratory status. Many of these acute deteriorations are of unknown etiology and have been termed acute exacerbations of IPF. This perspective is the result of an international effort to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding acute exacerbations of IPF. Acute exacerbations of IPF are defined as acute, clinically significant deteriorations of unidentifiable cause in patients with underlying IPF. Proposed diagnostic criteria include subjective worsening over 30 days or less, new bilateral radiographic opacities, and the absence of infection or another identifiable etiology. The potential pathobiological roles of infection, disordered cell biology, coagulation, and genetics are discussed, and future research directions are proposed.
Even after quitting smoking, the risk of the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer remains significantly higher compared to healthy nonsmokers. Based on the ...knowledge that COPD and most lung cancers start in the small airway epithelium (SAE), we hypothesized that smoking modulates miRNA expression in the SAE linked to the pathogenesis of smoking-induced airway disease, and that some of these changes persist after smoking cessation. SAE was collected from 10th to 12th order bronchi using fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Affymetrix miRNA 2.0 arrays were used to assess miRNA expression in the SAE from 9 healthy nonsmokers and 10 healthy smokers, before and after they quit smoking for 3 months. Smoking status was determined by urine nicotine and cotinine measurement. There were significant differences in the expression of 34 miRNAs between healthy smokers and healthy nonsmokers (p<0.01, fold-change >1.5), with functions associated with lung development, airway epithelium differentiation, inflammation and cancer. After quitting smoking for 3 months, 12 out of the 34 miRNAs did not return to normal levels, with Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway being the top identified enriched pathway of the target genes of the persistent dysregulated miRNAs. In the context that many of these persistent smoking-dependent miRNAs are associated with differentiation, inflammatory diseases or lung cancer, it is likely that persistent smoking-related changes in SAE miRNAs play a role in the subsequent development of these disorders.
Smokers are assessed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using spirometry, with COPD defined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) as airflow limitation ...that is not fully reversible with bronchodilators. There is a subset of smokers with normal spirometry (by GOLD criteria), who have a low diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO), a parameter linked to emphysema and small airway disease. The natural history of these "normal spirometry/low DLCO" smokers is unknown.From a cohort of 1570 smokers in the New York City metropolitian area, all of whom had normal spirometry, two groups were randomly selected for lung function follow-up: smokers with normal spirometry/normal DLCO (n=59) and smokers with normal spirometry/low DLCO (n=46). All had normal history, physical examination, complete blood count, urinalysis, HIV status, α1-antitrypsin level, chest radiography, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC ratio and total lung capacity. Throughout the study, all continued to be active smokers.In the normal spirometry/normal DLCO group assessed over 45±20 months, 3% developed GOLD-defined COPD. In contrast, in the normal spirometry/low DLCO group, followed over 41±31 months, 22% developed GOLD-defined COPD.Despite appearing "normal" according to GOLD, smokers with normal spirometry but low DLCO are at significant risk of developing COPD with obstruction to airflow.