An analysis of immune-related genes in lung tissues using CIBERSORT could turn into a novel biomarker for better diagnosis and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). New research by a team of scientists from the Department of General Medicine, Yan’an Hospital Affiliated to Kunming Medical University, China, found that the lung tissue of COPD patients contained a greater number of resting NK cells, activated dendritic cells, and neutrophils than normal samples. The researchers used the CIBERSORT tool, a general purpose gene expression based deconvolution algorithm that quantifies cellular components from the gene expression profile of a tissue, to investigate these immune-related genes as novel diagnostic biomarkers to explore the disease and found greater number of resting NK cells, activated dendritic cells and neutrophils in COPD patients.  

The team said in the study report, published in International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, the algorithm was conducted to reveal the proportions of 22 subsets of immune cells in COPD patients, which they hope would help future diagnosis and treatment of COPD.