Melén, E., & Guerra, S. (2017). Recent advances in understanding lung function development. F1000Research, 6, 726.
Recent years have witnessed critical contributions to our understanding of the determinants and long-term implications of lung function development. In this article, we review studies that have contributed to advances in understanding lung function development and its critical importance for lung health into adult life. In particular, we have focused on early life determinants that include genetic factors, perinatal events, environmental exposures, lifestyle, infancy lower respiratory tract infections, and persistent asthma phenotypes. Longitudinal studies have conclusively demonstrated that lung function deficits that are established by school age may track into adult life and increase the risk of adult lung obstructive diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Furthermore, these contributions have provided initial evidence in support of a direct influence by early life events on an accelerated decline of lung function and an increased susceptibility to its environmental determinants well into adult life. As such, we argue that future health-care programs based on precision medicine approaches that integrate deep phenotyping with tailored medication and advice to patients should also foster optimal lung function growth to be fully effective.
Guerra, S., Melén, E., Sunyer, J., Xu, C. J., Lavi, I., Benet, M., Bustamante, M., Carsin, A. E., Dobaño, C., Guxens, M., Tischer, C., Vrijheid, M., Kull, I., Bergström, A., Kumar, A., Söderhäll, C., Gehring, U., Dijkstra, D. J., van der Vlies, P., , Wickman, M., et al. (2017). Genetic and epigenetic regulation of YKL-40 in childhood. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology.
Circulating levels of the chitinase-like protein YKL-40 are influenced by genetic variation in its encoding gene (chitinase 3-like 1 [CHI3L1]) and are increased in patients with several diseases, including asthma. Epigenetic regulation of circulating YKL-40 early in life is unknown.
Kubesch, N. J., de Nazelle, A., Westerdahl, D., Martinez, D., Carrasco-Turigas, G., Bouso, L., Guerra, S., & Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J. (2015). Respiratory and inflammatory responses to short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with and without moderate physical activity. Occupational and environmental medicine, 72(4), 284-93.
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) has been associated with adverse respiratory and systemic outcomes. Physical activity (PA) in polluted air may increase pollutant uptake and thereby health effects. The authors aimed to determine the short-term health effects of TRAP in healthy participants and any possible modifying effect of PA.
Guerra, S., Halonen, M., Vasquez, M. M., Spangenberg, A., Stern, D. A., Morgan, W. J., Wright, A. L., Lavi, I., Tarès, L., Carsin, A., Dobaño, C., Barreiro, E., Zock, J., Martínez-Moratalla, J., Urrutia, I., Sunyer, J., Keidel, D., Imboden, M., Probst-Hensch, N., , Hallberg, J., et al. (2015). Relation between circulating CC16 concentrations, lung function, and development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease across the lifespan: a prospective study. The Lancet. Respiratory medicine, 3(8), 613-20.
BIO5 Collaborators
Stefano Guerra, Fernando Martinez
Low concentrations of the anti-inflammatory protein CC16 (approved symbol SCGB1A1) in serum have been associated with accelerated decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated whether low circulating CC16 concentrations precede lung function deficits and incidence of COPD in the general population.
Aguilar, D., others, ., Guerra, S., others, ., & Anto, J. M. (2016). Computational analysis of multimorbidity between asthma, eczema and rhinitis. PLOS ONE.
