Original articles
Original articles
Expression of the Bax proapoptotic factor in asthmatic patients
Constantin Cristian Grigoras1, Adriana Grigoras2, Traian Mihaescu2, Alina Floarea-Strat3, Laurette Cozma4, Liliana Veres2Expression of the Bax proapoptotic factor in asthmatic patients
Contact: Constantin Cristian Grigoras, c_grigoras@hotmail.com,
Clinical Hospital of Pneumology, Specialty Ambulatory, Str. Dr. I. Cihac, nr. 30, 700115, Iasi, Romania
ABSTRACT The alteration in the expression of the factors involved in the apoptotic mechanism of the respiratory cell epithelium of asthma patients remains an unsolved issue. The mitochondria holds a very important place in the apoptotic chain, making therefore the study of the proteins belonging to the Bcl-2 family that ,,controls'' permeability of mitochondria's membrane extremely interesting, both for asthma as for other diseases. Our main concern in this study was to reveal the changes in expression of Bax factor at the level of the respiratory epithelium in asthma patients. We examined a number of 21 patients with different degrees of asthma. The tissue samples were accordingly processed for imunotyping with anti-Bax antibodies. Following microscopic examination we have found, even in mild cases of asthma, a decreased expression of Bax factor at the epithelial level, compared with the witness. The discovery of all these factors involved in cell apoptosis as well as their alteration in asthma will be the future of therapeutic approach in these patients.
Key words: asthma, apoptosis, Bax, mucus hypersecretion, respiratory epithelium
