Category: COPD News

Research suggests that an immune signalling protein called interleukin (IL)-26 is increased among chronic smokers with lung disease and this involvement reveals disease mechanisms of interest for developing more effective therapy for these hard-to-treat patients. Source

Researchers have developed a new computational way of analyzing X-ray images of lungs, which could herald a breakthrough in the diagnosis and assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other lung diseases. Source

A study with more than 3,300 participants in 12 countries has established a relationship between occupational exposure to biological dusts, gases, fumes and pesticides and COPD. The researchers did a follow-up of the participants 20 years after the first assessment. Source

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short, is believed to be the third most common cause of death worldwide. However, because the underlying mechanism is still largely unknown, today’s treatments can only slow progression of the disease. Scientists have now reported a previously unknown pathogenic mechanism, which they have already been able to prevent in the laboratory. Source

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of accelerated lung aging, but the mechanism remains unclear. Researchers studied the aging-like phenotype and its underlying mechanisms in a COPD mouse model. Double deletion of tetraspanins CD9 and CD81 in epithelial cells downregulated expression of the protein SIRT. As SIRT1 is a key molecule that protects against various lifestyle-related diseases and aging, these tetraspanins may serve as novel therapeutic targets for COPD and aging. Source

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is widespread in China with 8.6 percent of the country’s adult population — almost 100 million people — suffering from the chronic lung disease, according to a new study. The study, which provided lung-function screenings for more than 50,990 participants, is the largest survey of COPD across age groups ever conducted in China. Source

Three-quarters of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cases have their origins in poor lung function pathways beginning in childhood. These pathways are associated with exposures in childhood, and amplified by factors in adulthood, according to a cohort study. While smoking remains the biggest risk factor for COPD, the study demonstrates that childhood illnesses (such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis, eczema) and exposures to parental smoking are also linked to the disease. Source

Increasing the body’s ability to produce lipids in the lungs after damage prevents the progression of pulmonary fibrosis in preliminary studies. Source

Researchers have identified a lung stem cell that repairs the organ’s gas exchange compartment. They isolated and characterized these progenitor cells from mouse and human lungs and demonstrated they are essential to repairing lung tissue damaged by severe influenza and other respiratory ailments. Source

Respiratory disease patients with arthritis could struggle to manage their conditions because their inhalers are too fiddly for them to use, new research has found. Source