Extract
Airway remodelling inducing structural and functional decline is a main factor leading to clinical disablement in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1]. However, whether airway remodelling is also a potential feature of the normal healing process in ordinary lifelong environmental exposure and chronic endogen damage due to senescence is not well elucidated [2]. The relationship between ageing and development of COPD is complex. On one hand, while there is a higher prevalence of COPD in the elderly, ageing is not the direct cause of COPD; on the other hand, it does increase the susceptibility of the lung to extrinsic damage [3].
Abstract
Airway remodelling with age is a heterogeneous process having a particular tropism towards distal airways http://ow.ly/FeZnN
Acknowledgements
We thank all the volunteers who participated in this research study; Melina Bouet, Claire Belloc and Erika Nogue for logistical assistance and data management; and Pamela Goodman-Stephens for her linguistic contribution (all CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France).
Footnotes
Support statement: The study was funded by a grant from the French Ministry of Health (Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique A00810-55).
Conflict of interest: None declared.
- Received October 3, 2014.
- Accepted November 25, 2014.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015