Apr 21, 2008 9:29 pm US/Eastern
Doctors Hope Study Will Help Patients With COPD
(KDKA)
Statistics show that Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, kills more than 130,000 Americans every year.
While there is no cure, local researchers say they are making discoveries that could someday make this disease less deadly.
Experts say COPD is a major cause of death and illness worldwide, and the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States.
So far, treatments can control symptoms, but local researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are trying to figure out how to keeping the disease from worsening.
Doctors say the condition makes it hard for people to get air in or out of the lungs. As a result, oxygen can't get into the blood stream, and symptoms can worsen over time.
"More short of breath, more cough, to the point where they were near incapacitated, they were bed bound," said Dr. Steven Duncan, a lung specialist at UPMC. "Ideally, we'd like to get somebody before they get to that stage."
Doctors say the most common cause is cigarette smoking.
"How much is autoimmunity versus how much is the effect of the cigarette itself versus how much is due to effects of infection, we don't know," he adds. "We think the autoimmune response is somewhat substantial."
Because of their findings, the doctors say they are looking for patients to take part in another study, to see if drugs to suppress the immune system can stop the lung damage.
"We have no expectation that it will reverse disease, but again, even if we could stop progression, that would be a wonderful thing," said Dr. Duncan.
But not everyone agrees that COPD is an autoimmune disease. Other researchers say they are waiting for the results of studies in people, and not just the proteins found in a lab to give them a clearer picture.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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