Research

Area 2

Inflammation and repair in respiratory illnesses.

Team leader

Strategic objectives

The general objective of the group is to investigate the inflammatory and tissue repair mechanisms in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), their clinical-functional correlation, the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications of such knowledge, and particularly their relevance in relation to pulmonary oncogenesis. COPD is presently the fourth most common cause of death in the world, and will rank third within a decade. Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor in males (and soon also will be the most common malignancy in females), and involves one of the poorest prognosis with the currently available treatment options.

Main lines of research

  1. Mechanisms ofautoimmunity and autoinflammation that may contribute to the pathogenesis of acute outbreaks of the disease (in collaboration with the group headed by Dr. J. Yagüe, of the Department of Immunology of the Clinic Hospital).
  2. Mechanisms of abnormal katabasis (resolution of the inflammation) that perpetuate the inflammatory response even after smoking cessation (a necessary yet insufficient treatment measure) (in collaboration with Dr. J. Clària, of the Clinic Hospital Biomedical Diagnostic Center)
  3. Mechanisms of oncogenesis in COPD (in collaboration with investigators of the Fundació Caubet-Cimera in Mallorca and the CIBER of respiratory diseases (CIBERES): SINECAN project)
  4. Application of the methodology of systems biology (“omic” platforms and bioinformatics) to COPT, with a view to integrating the cellular and molecular alterations with clinical data. This line is developed in the setting of the CIBER of respiratory diseases (www.ciberes.org), involving a strategic alliance with the Institute for Systems Biology (Seattle, USA), Harvard University (USA) and the pharmaceutical industry with an interest in COPD.