Lung Lymphocytes in COPD Pathogenesis

During the progression of chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD), even in asymptomatic individuals, the lungs become progressively infiltrated by CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, and in advanced disease, by B cells. Whether theses lymphocytes are responding to infections, or instead are actually driving progression of lung destruction, remains uncertain.

To address these questions, we are analyzing lung leukoocytes, especially CD8+ T cells & dendritic cells (DC), and longitudinally following subsets of these same cell typesin peripheral blood of COPD patients.

Immunohistochemical demonstration of the interaction between a

myeloid type-2 dendritic cell (lung mDC2, red staining) and multiple

CD4+ T cells (black staining) within the lung of a patient with COPD.

Staining of these photomicro-graphs was performed by Terri Ames.

These studies analyze cells isolated from surgical lung specimens removed for clinical indications, and employ flow cytometry, real-time PCR, Western blotting & immunohistochemistry, ELISA and Luminex bead technology.

These studies are funded by R01 082489 and the Lung Tissue Consortium (LTRC) from NHLBI, and by the Biomedical & Laboratory Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs.