Περίληψη:
Protracted bacterial bronchitis is a syndrome that is among the most
common causes of chronic cough. In order to understand its pathogenetic
mechanisms, there is an increasing interest in the study of the immune
microenvironment in the bronchial lumen. The aim of this retrospective
study is the determination of the types and quantity of the inflammatory
cells that infiltrate the bronchial epithelium as well as of the
thickness of the basement membrane. Ninety-seven endobronchial biopsies,
obtained from 77 children (30 males and 47 females) aged between 5 and
14 years, with chronic ( 8 weeks) wet/productive cough, were subjected
to hematoxylin and eosin staining. Using an appropriate image analysis
and processing software, we determined the types and the quantity of the
inflammatory cells that infiltrated the bronchial epithelium, and the
thickness of the basement membrane. The metric data were then subjected
to extensive statistical analysis. According to our results, females had
increased levels of eosinophils (p = 0.021) and lymphocytes (p = 0.044)
compared to males. Moreover, we found that membrane thickness was
negatively correlated with the number of eosinophils (p < 0.0001),
neutrophils (p = 0.023), and lymphocytes (p = 0.024). Finally, the
pairwise comparisons of the number of eosinophils, neutrophils,
lymphocytes, and other cell types revealed significant (p < 0.05)
positive correlations. Protracted bacterial bronchitis activates
pulmonary innate immune pathways. Also, it is accompanied by basement
membrane thickening, which is a typical characteristic of several
respiratory diseases, such as asthma.
Συγγραφείς:
Ntesou, Despoina
Douros, Konstantinos
Tsiambas, Evangelos and
Maipas, Sotirios
Sarlanis, Helen
Lazaris, Andreas C. and
Kavantzas, Nikolaos
