Protein and lung disease link found

HOUSTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- University of Texas Health Science Center biochemists say they've linked the osteopontin protein to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The researchers say their finding might lead to a novel approach in the treatment of the lung disease that affects more than 12 million people in the United States and is the nation's fourth leading cause of death.

The researchers, led by Professor Michael Blackburn and doctoral student Daniel Schneider, said they were able to prevent COPD features in a mouse model by genetically removing osteopontin.

"This is an important crossover study," Blackburn said. "Because we can show osteopontin is elevated in people with COPD, this suggests osteopontin could serve as both an indicator of disease progression and a therapeutic target."

In the study, researchers induced COPD features in mice and then compared symptoms experienced by mice with osteopontin and those without. The mice without the protein had less inflammation and lung disease.

The research that included graduate students Janci Lindsay and Yang Zhou, as well as senior research assistant Jose Molina, is available online and is to appear in the January print issue of The FASEB Journal, the journal of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.