Scientists have identified specific ion channels– TRPML3 – in immune cells that play a decisive role in the inflammation process in compulsive obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and these ion channels could potentially be strong targets for new therapies to treat the disease.

A latest research by LMU pharmacologist Prof. Christian Grimm from the Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology and team found that these specific ion channels in immune cells play a decisive role in the inflammation process associated with COPD in patients, noting that the ion channel TRPML3 plays an important role in the regulation of macrophage elastase MMP12, excess of which contributes to the development of pulmonary emphysemas. The researchers said that they found that when TRPML3 was inactivated, the corresponding knockout mice had elevated MMP12 levels in the lung which further led to consequential lung damage. Using various methods, the researchers subsequently investigated the expression and function of TRPML3 in the lung in order to clarify how the MMP12 concentration is regulated. 

 “To our surprise, we found that it is not the secretion of MMP12 that is impaired in COPD, but the endocytosis. As such, it is not that the inflammation causes more MMP12 to be released, but that the reabsorption of excess MMP12 by TRPML3 does not work well enough,” said lead author Prof. Grimm in the report, published in Nature Communications.