ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the repair possibilities of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)in peripheral blood in patients with different extents of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) through measuring the levels of pro-angiogenic factors and different subgroups EPCs in peripheral blood in patients with OSA. Methods Ninety adult patients with OSA, 30 healthy controls with matched age and gender were enrolled for this study. The subjects performed Polysomnography, were divided in-to four group based on Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI). The serum levels of HIF-1α, SDF-1αand VEGF were assessed by ELISA. Mononuclear cells were isolated from peripheral blood with density gradient centrifugation, and flow cytometry was used to detect levels of CD133+KDR+EPC, CD133+CD34+EPC, CD34+KDR+EPC and ALDHloCD34+KDR+EPC based on AL-DH activity, and CD133, CD34, PE-KDR related cell surface markers. Results The levels of CD133+KDR+EPC, CD133+CD34+EPC, CD34+KDR+EPC were higher in OSA groups than those of control group, both of which were higher in severe OSA group than those of in mild and moderate OSA groups. The levels of ALDHloCD34+KDR+EPC were higher in mild and moderate OSA groups than that of the control groups, and the levels of ALDHloCD34+KDR+EPC were significantly lower in se-vere OSA group than those of control, mild and moderate OSA groups. Serum levels of HIF-1α. VEGF were significantly high-er in OSA groups compared to those in control groups, both of which were higher in severe OSA group than those of mild and moderate OSA groups. Serum levels of SDF-1αwere significantly lower in severe OSA groups than those of mild, moderate OSA and control groups (P<0.05). Conclusion The mobilization and recruitment of different subtypes of EPCs are obvious-ly increased in patients with OSA, but ALDHloCD34+KDR+EPC with vascular repair capacity keeps to invariability, even de-creases in patients with severe OSA, which results in endothelial damage, and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic yield and safety of transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) under virtual bronchoscopic navigation (Direct Path), endobronchial ultrasonography with a guide sheath (GS) and rapid on-site evaluation using an ultrathin bronchoscopy (UNRE) for bacterial infection located in the peripheral third of the lung field. Methods Ninety-seven patients with bacterial infection, which located in the peripheral third of the lung field on CT images, were ran-domly assigned to UNRE (n=49) or non-UNRE (NUNRE, n=48) groups, who were treated in General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The TBLB guided by UNRE was performed in two groups. The diagnostic yield, safety and complication rate were compared between two groups. Moreover, the differences of autofluo-rescence intensity of alveolar macrophage in alveolar lavage fluid were compared between two groups of patients. Results The diagnostic yield was significantly higher in UNRE group than that of NUNRE group (81.6% vs 56.2%, χ2=7.313, P <0.01). The diagnostic yield was higher in UNRE group with bronchus sign compared to that of NUNRE. All patients had a mild bleeding at the time of biopsy. There were no hemoptysis, pneumothorax or other serious complications. The autofluores-cence intensity of alveolar macrophage was different in different levels of infection in patients. Conclusion The procedure of UNRE has higher diagnostic rate and fewer complications. The careful selection of suitable cases can further improve the diagnostic accuracy. The autofluorescence intensity of alveolar macrophage in alveolar lavage fluid indicates the severity of infection in patients.