Catching COPD before it starts
Could measuring a single protein in childhood predict the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease later in life?
The University of Arizona (USA) has been granted a US$3.8 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (MD, USA) to determine whether low levels of a lung protein called CC16 could serve as an early indicator of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), decades before symptoms appear.
COPD, which encompasses emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is a progressive lung condition that has traditionally been characterized by an accelerated decline in pulmonary function during adulthood, primarily resulting from smoking or environmental exposures. However, recent research has revealed that approximately half of COPD cases develop not from rapid functional decline, but rather from individuals failing to achieve optimal pulmonary capacity during early adulthood.
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This alternative path, termed the “low-flyer” trajectory, means that certain individuals’ lungs start off smaller or weaker and they have an inherently compromised lung function, creating persistent vulnerability throughout life. Identifying people on this trajectory early could facilitate preventative interventions before the symptoms of COPD or other diseases manifest.
“If we can pinpoint children at risk for early COPD, we might be able to intervene while they’re still young and push them onto a healthier lung growth path. The long-term hope is to prevent lung disease before it ever develops,” said Stefano Guerra, Director of population science at the University of Arizona Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center and the Henry E. Dahlberg Chair in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.
To do this, the research team will use ELISA to analyze levels of a protein called CC16 in blood samples from diverse population studies in North America and Europe, including the Tucson Children’s Respiratory Study in Arizona. CC16 is a major anti-inflammatory protein highly expressed in the airways, with measurable concentrations in circulation, and previous research by Guerra’s team has already established it as a potential biomarker for persistent asthma, with low levels of circulating CC16 being correlated to a significantly higher risk of ongoing asthma symptoms into adulthood. Based on this, the team believes that low levels of CC16 during childhood could leave the lungs more susceptible to damage, potentially leading to chronic conditions like COPD as they age.
The 5-year study aims to establish CC16 as a biomarker for identifying individuals who are on the “low-flyer” trajectory and therefore at risk for developing COPD. Identifying those at-risk individuals could enable targeted interventions decades before clinical symptoms would typically manifest, which would have enormous public health implications.
