Welcome Back to The Respiratory Report - 3rd Edition

Medical science research is constantly evolving, and HCPLive remains dedicated to highlighting the experts behind these advancements. Over the past year alone, the dynamic field of respiratory health has seen a wide range of research efforts focused on conditions that impact breathing and overall quality of life for patients.

This third edition of The Respiratory Report, HCPLive’s quarterly newsletter spotlighting pulmonary investigators supported by the American Lung Association Research Institute, features some of the latest progress in pulmonary research. Each issue—accessible on HCPLive.com and via our email newsletter—offers expert insights into the development of research with the potential to change clinical practice.

Each edition of The Respiratory Report includes written articles and video interviews featuring investigators discussing their latest work on conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, rare interstitial lung diseases, and respiratory viruses. Much like Lungcast, a collaborative series from HCPLive and the American Lung Association, The Respiratory Report aims to cover a wide range of topics across the field of pulmonology.

The following summary represents a preview of authors and their research featured in our second issue.

Peter Miller, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Miller discussed his research looking into clonal hematopoiesis (CH), particularly involving somatic mutations in the ASXL1 gene, which has emerged as a novel, non-traditional risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Miller and colleagues conducted large-scale genetic epidemiology studies across multiple biobanks to quantify the association between ASXL1-mutant CH and COPD, identifying genetic modifiers that may amplify disease risk and characterize related clinical phenotypes. Using mouse models, they confirmed that these mutations promote COPD pathogenesis through enhanced inflammation, and they are evaluating anti-inflammatory therapies as potential interventions.

READ: Uncovering the Link Between Clonal Hematopoiesis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Divay Chandra, MD, MSc, is an associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, at University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Chandra is exploring lithium's potential as a disease-modifying therapy for COPD, for which no therapies currently exist that modify disease progression, and known risk factors like smoking account for only about half of total disease burden.

Chandra and his team are investigating lithium for its ability to activate WNT/β-catenin signaling, a key pathway in lung repair. Their research found that lithium reduces emphysema in mouse models, correlates with less severe emphysema in human cohorts, and induces reparative signaling in human lung tissue and they are looking to further correlate circulating lithium levels with disease severity.

READ: Exploring Lithium as a Potential Disease-Modifying Therapy for Emphysema

William Zhang, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, is investigating abnormal iron homeostasis in alveolar macrophages that may play a role in COPD pathogenesis.

Zhang investigated the role of iron dysregulation in alveolar macrophages (AMs) as a potential contributor to COPD pathogenesis and exacerbation risk. Using cigarette smoke-exposed mouse models, single-cell RNA sequencing, and a transgenic model with macrophage-specific NCOA4 depletion, his team demonstrated that disrupted iron homeostasis alters AM function and may contribute to emphysema, but also found that limiting iron access may impair infection defense.

READ: Abnormal Iron Homeostasis in Alveolar Macrophages: Implications for COPD Pathogenesis

Jaime Hook, MD, is an Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Hook is seeking to bolster alveolar defense against Staphylococcus aureus coinfection after influenza.

Her team investigated how influenza disrupts innate alveolar defenses by inhibiting CFTR-mediated liquid secretion and activating ENaC-driven absorption, creating an absorptive microenvironment that facilitates bacterial stabilization and lethal coinfection. They demonstrated that the CFTR potentiator ivacaftor restores alveolar secretion and protects against death in flu-infected mice, and identified alveolar type 1 cells as key contributors to liquid secretion and alveolar defense.

READ: Developing New Treatments for Influenza That Target the Lung – Not the Virus

In The Respiratory Report, you will find something similar to what this quartet of featured authors provided: a multifaceted package of perspectives on the innovations and solutions pushing pulmonology ever forward. We hope you enjoy our latest series.