Asthma and allergic disease are of multifactorial nature like most of the other diseases that clinicians are facing. To establish the disease nature and improve the treatment success rate, it is unavoidable to examine closely enormous clinical and biological data that have been accumulated during the last century. The expanding gap between basic research and clinical medicine demand a novel approach. System biology emerged to reduce this gap as an interdisciplinary and translational method, and integrated clinical and experimental data through bioinformatics and mathematical modeling. Mathematical modeling is the method that disassembles the system, interpret the complex relations concealed among elements, and then establish a comprehensive and testable new hypothesis for the complex phenomenon or disease. To this end, we review the mathematical models dealting with asthma and immunologic system.
Allergy and Immunology ; Asthma* ; Biology ; Clinical Medicine ; Computational Biology ; Methods ; Models, Theoretical*

Bee venom injection therapy is an alternative treatment sometimes used for chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, to reduce pain. Several chemical components of bee venom have anti-inflammatory effects, and apitoxin, one of the mixed components, has been used for pain prevention therapy. However, there have been no large-scale investigations regarding the efficacy or side effects or apitoxin. In this study, a case of serum sickness reaction that developed after receiving bee venom injection therapy is reported.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Bee Venoms ; Bees ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Serum Sickness ; Skin

The management of asthma focuses on the reduction of airway inflammation accompany with symptomatic care after recognition. Glucocorticosteroid is the most important drug to reduce airway inflammation, and it has been used inhaled, orally and systemically. New knowledge about the pathogenesis of allergy and asthma has made the development and clinical trial of target or immunomodulator therapy. It includes cytokine, cytokine blockers, specific cytokine receptor blocker, and immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides. These agents are thought to hold the promise for more beneficial outcomes in the future, although it showed limited therapeutic benefits only for patients, especially intractable or severe asthma, until now.
Asthma ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunomodulation ; Inflammation ; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides ; Receptors, Cytokine

Eosinophilic lung diseases are heterogeneous disorders characterized by varying degrees of pulmonary parenchyma or blood eosinophilia. Causes of eosinophilic lung diseases range from drug ingestion to parasitic or fungal infection as well as idiopathic. The exact pathogenesis of eosinophilic lung disease remains unknown. Urushiol chicken can frequently cause allergic reactions. Contact dermatitis (both local and systemic) represents the most-common side effect of urushiol chicken ingestion. However, there has been no previous report of lung involvement following urushiol chicken ingestion until now. A 66-year-old male was admitted to our hospital with exertional dyspnea. Serial chest X-ray revealed multiple migrating infiltrations in both lung fields, with eosinophilic infiltration revealed by lung biopsy. The patient had ingested urushiol chicken on two occasions within the 2 weeks immediately prior to disease onset. His symptoms and migrating lung lesions were resolved following administration of oral corticosteroids.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Aged ; Allergens ; Biopsy ; Chickens* ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Dyspnea ; Eating* ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Male ; Pulmonary Eosinophilia ; Thorax

PURPOSE: The tight junction protein claudin-5 (CLDN5) is critical to the control of endothelial cellular polarity and pericellular permeability. The role of CLDN5 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between CLDN5 levels and clinical variables in patients with COPD. METHODS: In total, 30 patients with COPD and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The plasma CLDN5 level was checked in patients with stable or exacerbated COPD and in healthy controls. RESULTS: The mean plasma CLDN5 level of patients with COPD was 0.63 ± 0.05 ng/mL and that of healthy controls was 6.9 ± 0.78 ng/mL (P = 0.001). The mean plasma CLDN5 level was 0.71 ± 0.05 ng/mL in exacerbated COPD patients and 0.63 ± 0.04 ng/mL in patients with stable COPD (P < 0.05). The plasma CLDN5 level among COPD subjects was correlated with the smoking amount (r = −0.530, P = 0.001). The plasma CLDN5 level in stable COPD patients was correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1, %pred.) (r = −0.481, P = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS: The plasma CLDN5 level was not correlated with age. CLDN5 may be involved in the pathogenesis of COPD. Further studies having a larger sample size will be needed to clarify CLDN5 in COPD.
Claudin-5* ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Permeability ; Plasma ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Sample Size ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tight Junctions*

BACKGROUND: Wheezes are the oscillation of airway walls that occures when there is airflow limitation, as may be produced by bronchospasm, airway edema or collapse or intraluminal obstruction by neplasm or secretions. Wheezes can be observed in about 34% of bronchiectasis, that defined as abnormal and permanent dilatation of bronchi. Bronchiectasis is associated with bronchial asthma in 2.7-42%. We studed the clinical significance of wheeze observed in bronchiectasis and interrelationships between the bronchiectasis with wheeze and bronchial asthma. METHODS: We reviewed the 32 patients with bronchiectasis confirmed by HRCT. Exclusion criteria are acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis, neoplasm, bronchial asthma. The controlled group is 29 bronchial asthma patients and their diagnositc criteria is when the %change of FEV1 after inhaled bronchodilators is 12% or more and absolute change value is >or =200 mL. All patients were performed spirometry, bronchodilator test, bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine, skin prick test and sputum analysis for cell counts. RESULTS: The Wheeze observed in 43.7% of bronchiectasis patients. Wheeze group revealed the more obstructive pattern in spirometry than non-wheeze group (FEV1% 71.0+/-8.2% vs 91.7+/-5.5%, p=0.04; FEV1/FVC 61.1+/-4.4% vs 78.2+/-3.7%, p=0.009), more bronchodilator responses (8.4+/-2.1% vs 4.9+/-1.7%, p=0.045) and more bonchial hyperresponsiveness (positive results in PC20 : 2 in 6 patients vs no positive in 3 patients). Asthma control group has no significant differences with wheeze group. But compared with non-wheeze group, it has significantly decreased lung function (FEV1/FVC 65.5+/-2.9% vs 78.2+/-3.7, p=0.004), more bronchodilator responses (14.8+/-0.6% vs 4.9+/-1.7%, p=0.001) and more eosinophilic airway inflammations (sputum eosinphile% 11.4+/-2.0 vs 0.8+/-0.4, p=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The wheezes observed in bronchiectasis are associated with bronchial hyperres ponsiveness and eosinophilic airway inflammations.
Asthma* ; Bronchi ; Bronchial Neoplasms ; Bronchial Spasm ; Bronchiectasis* ; Bronchodilator Agents ; Cell Count ; Dilatation ; Edema ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Methacholine Chloride ; Respiratory Sounds ; Skin ; Spirometry ; Sputum

A 64-year-old woman was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. Her disease was stage 4 (T2N2M1) with squamous cell carcinoma. She had been treated with docetaxel and carboplatin. After a completion of 11 cycle of chemotherapy, edema appeared on both feet and had spread rapidly up to the pretibial area without response to diuretics. Sclerotic changes and pigmentation followed but both knees and other parts of the body were spared. There was no evidence of vascular occlusions. On serologic tests, antinuclear, anti-centromere, and anti-topoisomerase I antibodies were all negative. A skin biopsy revealed diffuse infiltration of lymphocytes and discretely thickened collagen bundles in the superficial dermis. After discontinuing docetaxel chemotherapy, she was treated with prednisolone and D-penicillamine and sclerotic changes on the lower legs were improved.
Antibodies ; Biopsy ; Carboplatin ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Collagen ; Dermis ; Diuretics ; Edema ; Female ; Foot ; Glycogen Storage Disease Type VI ; Humans ; Knee ; Leg ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lymphocytes ; Penicillamine ; Pigmentation ; Prednisolone ; Sclerosis ; Serologic Tests ; Skin ; Taxoids

It has been well known that mesalazine can cause the interstitial lung disease, such as Bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP), Non-Specific Interstitial Pneumonia (NSIP), or eosinophilic pneumonia. 5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), mesalazine, and sulfasalazine are important drugs for treating inflammatory bowel disease. Topical products of these limited systemic absorption and have less frequent side effects, therefore suppository form of these drugs have been used more than systemic drug. Most cases of measalzine-induced lung toxicity develop from systemic use of the drug. A 30-year-old woman had an interstitial lung disease after using mesalazine suppository because of ulcerative colitis. The lung biopsy demonstrated eosinophilic pneumonia combined with BOOP. She was recovered after stopping of mesalazine suppository and treatment with systemic steroid.
Absorption, Physiological ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Bronchiolitis Obliterans ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Lung ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial ; Mesalamine ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Eosinophilia ; Sulfasalazine