Charcot-Leyden crystals are slender, hexagonal, bipyramidal crystals formed predominantly from eosinophil but also from basophil granules composed of a single protein of 17,400 daltons of lysophospholipase activity. It has been identified in a variety of body fluids and tissues in human tissues and secretions in association with eosinophilic inflammatory reactions, asthma, myeloid leukemias, and allergic, parasitic, and other diseases. In this report, we describe a child with bronchial obstruction and subsequent atelectasis caused by Charcot-Leyden crystals containing fibronous material who was treated with flexible bronchofiberscope to remove it.
Asthma ; Basophils ; Body Fluids ; Child ; Eosinophils ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid ; Lysophospholipase ; Pulmonary Atelectasis

Crystallization ; Eosinophils ; enzymology ; Fascioliasis ; pathology ; Granuloma ; pathology ; Humans ; Liver ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Lung ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Lung Diseases, Parasitic ; pathology ; Lysophospholipase ; metabolism ; Paragonimiasis ; pathology

Changes in the expression profiles of specific proteins leads to serious human diseases, including colitis. The proteomic changes related to colitis and the differential expression between tuberculous (TC) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in colon tissue from colitis patients has not been defined. We therefore performed a proteomic analysis of human TC and UC mucosal tissue. Total protein was obtained from the colon mucosal tissue of normal, TC, and UC patients, and resolved by 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). The results were analyzed with PDQuest using silver staining. We used matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight spectrometry (MALDI TOF/TOF) to identify proteins differentially expressed in TC and UC. Of the over 1,000 proteins isolated, three in TC tissue and two in UC tissue displayed altered expression when compared to normal tissue. Moreover, two proteins were differentially expressed in a comparative analysis between TC and UC. These were identified as mutant beta-actin, alpha-enolase and Charcot-Leyden crystal protein. In particular, the expression of alpha-enolase was significantly greater in TC compared with normal tissue, but decreased in comparison to UC, implying that alpha-enolase may represent a biomarker for differential diagnosis of TC and UC. This study therefore provides a valuable resource for the molecular and diagnostic analysis of human colitis.
Actins ; Colitis ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Colon ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electrophoresis ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Lysophospholipase ; Mucous Membrane ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Proteins ; Proteomics ; Silver Staining ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; Spectrum Analysis ; Ulcer