Clinical & Systems Medicine Investigations of Smoking-related Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an umbrella diagnosis defined by obstructive lung function impairments, and is likely to be caused by a multitude of etiologies including environmental exposures, genetic predispositions and developmental factors. Due to the heterogeneity of the disease, molecular and mechanistic sub-phenotyping of COPD represents an essential step to facilitate the development of relevant diagnostic and treatment options for this constantly growing patient group. In the Karolinska COSMIC study, the investigators are investigating molecular sub-phenotypes of smoking-induced COPD. A particular focus relates to recent epidemiological indications of gender differences in both incidence and severity of disease, with post-menopausal women being at greatest risk. The study encompasses profiling of mRNA, miRNA, proteomes, metabolomes and lipid mediators of from multiple lung compartments (airway epithelium, alveolar macrophages, exosomes, and bronchoalveolar exudates) using a range of 'omics platforms, in combination with extensive clinical phenotyping of early stage COPD patients, never-smokers, and smokers with normal lung function from both genders. The primary objective of the study is to identify molecular sub-phenotypes of patients with COPD, specifically by correlating clinical phenotypes multi-molecular 'omics profiling from multiple lung compartments of early stage COPD patients compared to healthy and at-risk control populations. Secondary goals involve identification of subsets of prognostic/diagnostic biomarkers for classification of the defined subgroups, as well as relevant pharmaceutical targets.