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Bina Choi, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
Research Project:
Proteomics Signatures of Quantitative Interstitial Abnormalities and Impaired Respiratory Health
Grant Awarded:
- ACRC Early Career Investigator
Research Topics:
- biomarkers
- clinical research
- computational biology
- imaging radiology
- proteomics
Research Diseases:
- COPD
- emphysema
- interstitial lung disease
- pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are smoking-related progressive lung diseases with poor outcomes, and patients with these diseases have permanent damage to their lungs in the form of scarring (fibrosis) as well as airspace dilatation and destruction (emphysema), respectively. Since current treatments slow future progression but do not reverse disease, there is an important need to identify and characterize the precursors to IPF and COPD. This proposal focuses on one precursor, called quantitative interstitial abnormalities (QIA). This study aims to use protein-based blood biomarkers to better characterize QIA and identify people with QIA at highest risk for QIA progression to fibrosis or emphysema and progression to death.
Update:
We have identified 144 biomarkers linked to QIA and confirmed that these markers have similar effects in two national studies, COPDGene and CARDIA. These markers include both new proteins and ones known to be involved in severe lung diseases like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis, suggesting shared pathways from early to late stages of disease. They come from 49 different pathways, including inflammation, immune responses, and extracellular matrix structures. These proteins are highly expressed in the lungs, supporting our idea that early lung injury on a CT scan can also be detected with a blood test.
We’ve completed the CT scans for follow-up visits in the CARDIA Lung study, so we now have all the data on new cases of pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema needed for our next research goal. We’ve also worked on related projects, including finding that QIA progression leads to more severe respiratory exacerbations, discovering that some QIA outcomes are linked to blood vessel changes, and using proteomics (the large-scale study of proteins) to identify early signs of future lung problems. This work provides important background for our study of proteomics markers related to QIA.
Page last updated: September 17, 2024
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