The role of neutrophil elastase (NE) is poorly understood in bronchiectasis because of the lack of preclinical data and so most of the assumptions made about NE inhibitor potential benefit is based on data from CF. In this context, NE seems to be a predictor of long-term clinical outcomes and a possible target of treatment. In order to better evaluate the role of NE in bronchiectasis, a systema...

OBJECTIVE Neutrophil elastase accounts for the ability of some fresh rheumatoid synovial fluids to degrade cartilage matrix in vitro. The aim of this study was to determine if enzyme activity could result from depletion of synovial fluid inhibitors or protection of the enzyme from inhibition. METHODS The ability of synovial fluids to inhibit porcine pancreatic elastase was investigated togeth...

Excessive neutrophil elastase (NE) activity and altered vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling have independently been implicated in the development and progression of pulmonary emphysema. In the present study, we investigated the potential link between NE and VEGF. We noted that VEGF(165) is a substrate for NE. Digestion of purified VEGF(165) with NE generated a partially degraded...

AIMS CD163 is a macrophage receptor for haemoglobin-haptoglobin (Hb-Hp) complexes, responsible for the clearance of haemoglobin. We hypothesized that production of soluble CD163 (sCD163) may be due to proleolytic shedding of membrane CD163 by neutrophil elastase, reported to be increased in culprit atherosclerotic plaques. We analysed the relationship between CD163 solubilization and elastase i...

Whereas it has been shown that neutrophil elastase (NE) is a crucial enzyme degrading the dermal-epidermal junction (DEJ) in bullous pemphigoid (BP), experimental studies on the role of NE in dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), a disease in which, as in BP, an intra-lamina lucida blister is formed, are scanty. The aim of this study was to analyse whether there is a correlation between levels of seru...

Exposure of human skin to solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiation induces matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) activity, which degrades type I collagen fibrils. Type I collagen is the most abundant protein in skin and constitutes the majority of skin connective tissue (dermis). Degradation of collagen fibrils impairs the structure and function of skin that characterize skin aging. Decorin is the predo...

BACKGROUND The duration of warm ischemia and reperfusion injury is a major limiting factor in the setting of lung transplantation with non-heart-beating donors (NHBD). We hypothesized that reperfusion with neutrophil elastase inhibitor or leukocyte-depleted blood has an inhibitory effect on the ischemia-reperfusion injury of NHBD rabbit lungs. METHODS To assess the lung injury, we used a perf...

BACKGROUND In patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) neutrophils are recruited in excess to the airways yet pathogens are not cleared and the patients suffer from chronic infections. Recent studies have shown a deficiency in airway fluids from patients with CF and other inflammatory pulmonary conditions of surfactant protein A (SP-A), a pattern recognition molecule that facilitates uptake of microb...

AIM This study want to examine (a) whether neutrophils, the neutrophil-elastase, C-reactive protein and the Interleukin- 6 are modified and how, in patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy open cholecystectomy; (b) whether these findings are indicative of an increased risk to develop infectious complications. MATERIALS OF STUDY Circulating Interleukin-6 level, C-reactive protein and neutro...

The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that human neutrophil elastase (HNE) affects neutrophil infiltration (adhesion and emigration) into inflamed vessels. To determine whether HNE contributes to neutrophil adhesion in vivo, intravital microscopy was used to study neutrophil-endothelial cell interactions in single inflamed postcapillary venules. Superfusion of platelet-...