Gene expression profile of human lung in a relatively early stage of COPD with emphysema

Ina Jeong,1,* Jae-Hyun Lim,2,* Dong Kyu Oh,3 Woo Jin Kim,4 Yeon-Mok Oh3 1Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 2Biomedical Informatics Research Center, Division of Biomedical Informatics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 4Department of Internal Medicine and Environmental Health Center, Kangwon National University Hospital, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: As only some smokers develop COPD with emphysema, we explored the molecular pathogenesis of early-stage COPD with emphysema using gene expression profiling of human lung tissues. Patients and methods: First, 110 subjects who had smoked more than ten pack-years were classified into three groups: COPD with emphysema, COPD without emphysema, and healthy smokers. COPD and emphysema were confirmed by post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity