Living-Donor Lung Transplantation for Dyskeratosis Congenita

The world of rare interstitial lung diseases

The world of rare interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) is diverse and complex. Diagnosis and therapy usually pose challenges. This review describes a selection of rare and ultrarare ILDs including pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis and pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis. In addition, monogenic ILDs or ILDs in congenital syndromes and various multiple cystic lung diseases will be discussed. All these conditions are part of the scope of the European Reference Network on rare respiratory diseases (ERN-LUNG). Epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics and treatment of each disease are presented.

SARS-CoV-2 disrupts respiratory vascular barriers by suppressing Claudin-5 expression

In the initial process of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects respiratory epithelial cells and then transfers to other organs the blood vessels. It is believed that SARS-CoV-2 can pass the vascular wall by altering the endothelial barrier using an unknown mechanism. In this study, we investigated the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the endothelial barrier using an airway-on-a-chip that mimics respiratory organs and found that SARS-CoV-2 produced from infected epithelial cells disrupts the barrier by decreasing Claudin-5 (CLDN5), a tight junction protein, and disrupting vascular endothelial cadherin-mediated adherens junctions. Consistently, the gene and protein expression levels of CLDN5 in the lungs of a patient with COVID-19 were decreased. CLDN5 overexpression or Fluvastatin treatment rescued the SARS-CoV-2-induced respiratory endothelial barrier disruption. We concluded that the down-regulation of CLDN5 expression is a pivotal mechanism for SARS-CoV-2-induced endothelial barrier disruption in respiratory organs and that inducing CLDN5 expression is a therapeutic strategy against COVID-19.