Interstitial lung disease

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled ”Autoimmunity and interstitial lung disease” (Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2005 Sep;11(5):438-46). Authors are Jindal SK and Agarwal R from the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. The pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis as well as that of several other interstitial lung diseases is poorly understood. There is at least some evidence in the literature that supports the role of autoimmunity as one of the mechanisms of alveolar injury responsible for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The presence of autoantibodies in the sera of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has been demonstrated in a few studies. Several autoantibodies, including anti-Sm antibodies, antibodies to U1 ribonucleoproteins, and antibodies to U3 ribonucleoproteins, have been demonstrated in connective tissue disorders, many of which are associated with interstitial lung involvement. It might seem that the role of autoimmunity in interstitial lung disease has been underestimated or even underinvestigated. The subject requires further investigation, especially with regard to the problems of lung allograft rejection due to bronchiolitis obliterans of nonalloimmunity origin and the failure of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis to respond to most forms of currently available therapy. To access the abstract of the article, click here.