American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
-
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Aug 2017
Smoking-dependent Distal-to-Proximal Repatterning of the Adult Human Small Airway Epithelium.
Small airways are the primary site of pathologic changes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the major smoking-induced lung disorder. ⋯ Smoking-induced global distal-to-proximal reprogramming of the SAE represents a novel pathologic feature of COPD and is mediated by exaggerated epidermal growth factor/epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in SAE BCs.