The Genetics of Blood Biomarkers in COPD

COPD is a progressive inflammatory airway disease characterized by persistent and progressive airway inflammation. It is a major cause of global morbidity and mortality and is predicted to become the third leading cause of death by 2020. Biomarkers may be useful for diagnosing disease considering that the usually used lung function measures have poor correlation with both symptoms and other measures of disease progression. However, the relationship between biomarkers and COPD is still elusive. Establishing causality for selected proteins and pathways is a promising step toward their development as both biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Our group has found surfactant protein D is a novel biomarker, plays a causal role in the pathogenesis of COPD and its progression. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Xuekui Zhang

Student:

Ailan Shi

Partner:

Providence Health Care

Discipline:

Mathematics

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

Program: