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Does dust‐associated pulmonary alveolar proteinosis represent an autoimmune disorder?
Author(s) -
Uzmezoglu Bilge,
Simsek Cebrail,
Gulgosteren Sevtap,
Gebesoglu Berna E.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22702
Subject(s) - medicine , pulmonary alveolar proteinosis , autoantibody , pathological , immunology , granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor , antibody , epiphenomenon , pathology , lung , cytokine , philosophy , epistemology
The role of autoantibodies against granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) in the development of secondary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) in patients exposed to occupational and environmental dust remains unclear. Herein, we describe two cases of secondary PAP who had GM‐CSF antibodies and absence of STAT5 phosphorylation index, suggestive of a potential relationship between the appearance of GM‐CSF antibodies and environmental dust exposure. However, whether the presence of GM‐CSF antibodies is a part of the pathological process or represents an epiphenomenon is currently unknown. In this report, we would like to present two cases supporting these new data and briefly discuss the possible role of autoimmune mechanisms in the development of secondary PAP. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:591–597, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.