New Insights on Chronic Bronchitis: Diagnostic Test and Better Treatments on the Horizon

An NHLBI-funded study describes that how the concentration of mucins, the proteins that thicken mucus, is high in chronic bronchitis and directly associated with the severity of the condition. The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, are “an important step forward for COPD research. Understanding how characteristics of mucus relate to disease severity and symptoms may help us develop new COPD therapies as well as new ways to predict who will benefit most from different treatments,” said James P. Kiley, PhD, director of the NHLBI Division of Lung Diseases.