Heung-Woo Park

BACKGROUND: High-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) belonging to endogenous danger signals prolongs eosinophil survival and acts as a chemoattractant. OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluated the role of HMGB1 in the pathogenesis of asthma characterized by eosinophilic airway inflammation. METHODS: Firstly, HMGB1 expressions in induced sputum obtained from human asthmatics were determined. This was followed by an evaluation of the role of HMGB1 in a murine model of asthma using anti-HMGB1 antibodies.

BACKGROUND: Recent findings have raised new interests about the use of anticholinergics, especially tiotropium, for the treatment of asthma. This study was performed to determine whether an additional improvement in lung function is obtained when tiotropium is administrated in addition to conventional therapies in severe asthmatics, and to identify factors capable of predicting the response to tiotropium, using a pharmacogenetic approach. METHODS: A total of 138 severe asthmatics on conventional

These findings suggest that genetic polymorphisms in PTGER2, PTGER3, PTGER4, PTGIR, and TBXA2R play important roles in the pathogenesis of aspirin-intolerant asthma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is thought to be associated with immunosuppressive treatments, but insufficient information is available on the effect of corticosteroids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of HBV reactivation in hepatitis B surface antigen-seropositive patients with asthma or COPD, who were treated with systemic corticosteroids (SCS) in addition to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). METHODS: Patients with asthma or COPD (n = 198), who we

To better understand the respiratory lipid phenotypes of asthma, we developed a novel method for lipid profiling of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) using HPLC-QTOF-MS with an internal spectral library and high-throughput lipid-identifying software. The method was applied to BALF from 38 asthmatic patients (18 patients with nonsteroid treated bronchial asthma [NSBA] and 20 patients with steroid treated bronchial asthma [SBA]) and 13 healthy subjects (NC). We identified 69 lipids, which were c

Abstract Background The associations between long‐term changes in body mass composition and decline in lung function in healthy adults are unknown. Methods Using a well‐defined health check‐up database, we first assessed individual longitudinal changes in muscle mass (MM) and fat mass (FM) measured via bioelectrical impedance analyses. Then we classified the enrolled individuals into five body composition groups according to their MM index (MMI) [MM (kg)/height (m) 2 ] or FM index (FMI) [FM (kg)

BACKGROUND: DA-1229 is a novel, potent and selective dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-IV) inhibitor that is orally bioavailable. We aimed to evaluate the optimal dose, efficacy and safety of DA-1229, in Korean subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus suboptimally controlled with diet and exercise. METHODS: We enrolled 158 patients (mean age, 53 years and a mean BMI, 25.6 kg/m(2) ). The mean baseline fasting plasma glucose level, HbA1c and duration of diabetes were 8.28 mmol/L, 7.6% (60 mmol/mol) and 3.

Asthma exacerbation (AE) usually denotes worsening of asthma symptoms that requires intense management to prevent further deterioration. AE has been reported to correlate with clinical and demographic factors, such as race, gender, and treatment compliance as well as environmental factors, such as viral infection, smoking, and air pollution. In addition, recent observations suggest that there are likely to be genetic factors specific to AE. Understanding genetic factors specific to AE is essenti