Mucin Concentrations and Peripheral Airway Obstruction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Published in: American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2018-12, Vol.198 (11), p.1453-1456
• Main Authors: Kesimer, Mehmet, Smith, Benjamin M, Ceppe, Agathe, Ford, Amina A, Anderson, Wayne H, Barr, R Graham, O'Neal, Wanda K, Boucher, Richard C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Airway management; Airway Obstruction - complications; Airway Obstruction - metabolism; Airway Obstruction - physiopathology; Bronchitis; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Correspondence; Critical care; Humans; Internal medicine; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Lung - metabolism; Lung - physiopathology; Medicine; Mucins - metabolism; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - complications; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - metabolism; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - physiopathology; Spirometry; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 1073-449X; 1535-4970
• DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201806-1016LE

[...]we tested for associations between sputum mucin concentrations and characteristics with complementary spirometric and computed tomography (CT) measures of peripheral airway obstruction in the SPIROMICS cohort. Forced expiratory flow, midexpiratory phase (FEF25-75%) spirometry measurements and CT measures of peripheral airway obstruction, including measures of residual volume/total lung volume (RV/TLV) and parametric response mapping-functional small airway disease (PRM-FSAD), were obtained according to SPIROMICS protocols (5, 7). [...]it appears likely that mucin concentrations in the ranges measured in these studies, coupled with minimal peripheral airway cough clearance, will produce mucus accumulation and plug formation in peripheral COPD airways. Prescott G. Woodruff, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California; MeiLan K. Han, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Eric A. Hoffman, Department of Radiology, Division of Physiologic Imaging, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa; Fernando Martinez, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York; Jeffrey L. Curtis, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, and Medical Service, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Robert Paine III, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah; Christopher B. Cooper, Department of Medicine and Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; and Eugene R. Bleecker, Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. *Co-first authors.