Pigeon Fancier Lung

Question 1

what is a biomarker?

Answer 1

this is a naturally occurring characteristic by which a particular disease can be identified from

Question 2

what is pigeon fancier’s lung (PFL)?

Answer 2

a common form of hypersensitivity pneumonitis - this is from the bird feathers and dropping antigen produced by the pigeons.

Question 3

what are the different types of symptoms/presentations?

Answer 3

• Acute disease:
  
  • influenza-like syndrome occurring a few hours after exposure
  • associated with wheezing, bronchial hyper-responsiveness
• chronic disease:
  
  • patients with chronic disease have a slow progressive disease
  • associated with permanent dyspnoea and lung fibrosis
    This can lead to lung failure

Question 4

what part of the lung does it affect?

Answer 4

the dust/bloom particles are less than 5um, so affect the lower portion of the respiratory tract

Question 5

lung biopsy results:

Answer 5

cellular inflammatory infiltrates can be seen in the alveolar walls along with a small interstitial non-necrotizing granuloma - immune cells surround the pathogen when it cant be removed

Question 6

bronchoalveolar lavage analysis revels the existence of:

Answer 6

• high titer of Ab
• activated complement fragments
• inflammatory cytokines and cells

Question 7

what are the theories on the parthenogenesis of the disease?

Answer 7

• Arthus type ( type III hypersensitivity):
  
  • antibody mediated - IgG class
  • inhaled antigens bind circulating Ab, forms immune complex, which gets deposited in the lung and triggers inflammatory responses
• delayed-type IV hypersensitivity (DTH):
  
  • TH1 cells have the effector role
  • the characteristic of this response are presence of macrophages and T cells, giving granulomas

Question 8

flow cytometry CFSE:

Answer 8

• this is the intracellular labelling of live cells
• there is the dilution of the dye the more the cells proliferate
  
  • every time there is a cell division, the concentration of the dye halves