Immunopharmacological aspects of bronchial asthma

Advances in targeted therapy for malignant lymphoma

The incidence of lymphoma has gradually increased over previous decades, and it ranks among the ten most prevalent cancers worldwide. With the development of targeted therapeutic strategies, though a subset of lymphoma patients has become curable, the treatment of refractory and relapsed diseases remains challenging. Many efforts have been made to explore new targets and to develop corresponding therapies. In addition to novel antibodies targeting surface antigens and small molecular inhibitors targeting oncogenic signaling pathways and tumor suppressors, immune checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor T-cells have been rapidly developed to target the tumor microenvironment. Although these targeted agents have shown great success in treating lymphoma patients, adverse events should be noted. The selection of the most suitable candidates, optimal dosage, and effective combinations warrant further investigation. In this review, we systematically outlined the advances in targeted therapy for malignant lymphoma, providing a clinical rationale for mechanism-based lymphoma treatment in the era of precision medicine.

Intra-epithelial mast cells in human airway epithelium: evidence for smoking-induced changes in their frequency

A morphological and quantitative study was performed on the respiratory epithelium of human distal airways in 20 lungs removed at operation for the treatment of carcinoma. Using 1 micron araldite sections stained with Toluidine Blue for light microscopy, with further electron microscopic study where required, we have described mast cells in the epithelium of bronchioles, terminal bronchioles, and respiratory bronchioles. Examination of these cells at both microscopic levels demonstrates many of the typical features of mast cells--namely, metachromatic granules on staining with toluidine blue at light microscopic level, surface microvillous processes, and numerous dense intracytoplasmic granules with a whorled substructure at electron microscopy. Furthermore, we have identified cells devoid of granular material which may be recognised as mast cells by virtue of their nuclear and cell surface characteristics--the occurrence of a spectrum of change between those cells devoid of granular material and those with full granule content; and a few cells in which we found both typical dense, whorled granules and large lucent vacuoles devoid of such material. Quantitation of all respiratory epithelial cells by light microscopy shows that mast cells comprise 0-2% of the total population. A higher proportion of mast cells was found in the epithelium of smokers than in non-smokers. Because of the presence of many epithelial mast cells devoid of granule content, we suggest that the use of traditional 4 microns paraffin sections stained with thiazine dyes to study mast cells would lead to a marked underestimation of the epithelial population.

Mast cells in the human alveolar wall: an electronmicroscopic study

Mast cells were identified by electronmicroscopy in the alveolar wall of the lung in 20 subjects (10 normal, 10 abnormal). A quantitative and qualitative study was made of the mast cells. In the normal lung there was an average concentration of 350 mast cells/mm2 of alveolar wall and in the abnormal 523/mm2. Mast cells occupied approximately 1.6-2.1% of the area of the alveolar wall. There was marked variation in the structure of the mast cell granules but no differences between those in the normal and abnormal lungs. There was evidence that constant degranulation of mast cells may be occurring in the lung. The role that alveolar mast cells may play in the vasoconstrictor response to alveolar hypoxia is discussed. It is suggested that the tachypnoea present in asthma may partly be due to release of mediators from sensitised mast cells within the alveolar wall.

Eosinophil degranulation. Monitoring by interference contrast microscopy

A method is described for the quantitative monitoring of human eosinophil degranulation using interference contrast microscopy. Using staphyloccoci as a stimulus, degranulated cells appeared larger than nondegranulating cells, were ameboid in shape and exhibited large nude areas of cytoplasm with prominent nuclei. Granules were observed to marginate along the plasma membrane and discharge into the exterior of the cell. Eosinophils that were not induced to degranulate were spherical in shape and the cytoplasm contained numerous granules that often obscured the nuclei. Pharmacological agents that increase intracellular cAMP prevented degranulation, whereas those that increase cGMP had no effect on degranulation. Colchicine inhibited degranulation but did not interfere with the phagocytosis of staphyloccoci. Endotoxin-activated serum, ECF-A, phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, levamisole, and compound 48/80 caused degranulation of eosinophils per se. The presence of disodium cromoglycate prevented this degranulation. Compound 48/80 and disodium cromoglycate had no effect on the level of intracellular cAMP and cGMP.