Research Seeks Genetic Cause of COPD

Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) is recruiting volunteers to participate in the nation’s largest study ever on respiratory disease, COPDGeneTM, a $37 million, five-year genetic epidemiology research program seeking to understand why some smokers develop lung disease and others do not.

LA BioMed is one of several sites around the country participating in the study. Altogether, the various sites will enroll 10,500 volunteers in the search for the inherited factors that make some people more likely to develop Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, or COPD. This disorder impairs breathing and includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Some 24 million people in the U.S. suffer from COPD. It is the nation’s fourth leading cause of adult death and causes serious long-term disability.

Scientists already have proven cigarette smoking causes the vast majority of COPD cases, but they don’t understand why only roughly 25% of smokers develop the disorder. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health is funding this study to determine the genetic basis for COPD.

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