Respiratory tract diseases articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Detailed atomic models of axonemes from algal flagella and human respiratory cilia, which are hair-like protrusions from cells that enable motility and clear mucus from human airways, could provide insights into how they function.

    • Travis Walton
    • , Miao Gui
    •  & Alan Brown

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

    • Athanasios Kousathanas
    • , Erola Pairo-Castineira
    •  & J. Kenneth Baillie

  • Letter |

    The airway mucin Muc5b (but not Muc5ac) is required for mucociliary clearance, defence against bacterial infection in the airways and middle ear, and maintenance of immune homeostasis in the lungs; Muc5b deficiency causes accumulation of apoptotic macrophages, impairment of phagocytosis and reduced production of interleukin-23, leading to infection and inflammation.

    • Michelle G. Roy
    • , Alessandra Livraghi-Butrico
    •  & Christopher M. Evans

  • Outlook |

    Smoking and COPD have one of the strongest relationships in clinical epidemiology. But don't forget the genetics, says Edwin K. Silverman

    • Edwin K. Silverman

  • Outlook |

    The first symptoms of COPD can be subtle, so the disease often goes undiagnosed. Researchers are searching for ways to detect the disease and to identify those most at risk.

    • Cassandra Willyard

  • Outlook |

    COPD is one of the world's biggest killers, but awareness is low, diagnosis is often missed, and in many countries the extent of the problem is not even well-documented.

    • Amber Dance

  • Outlook |

    Scientists have some way to go before they can prove that COPD should be treated as an autoimmune disease, says Steven R. Duncan.

    • Steven R. Duncan

  • Outlook |

    Several new drugs for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are about to hit the market, with more in the pipeline.

    • Duncan Graham-Rowe

  • Outlook |

    Many COPD patients are deficient in vitamin D, a condition that can lead to bone problems as well as difficulty breathing. Can dietary supplements be of help?

    • Thea Singer

  • Outlook |

    Air pollution and smoking have made COPD a major problem in China, now compounded by outdated diagnostics and treatments — and experts say it's bound to get worse.

    • Virginia Hughes

  • Outlook |

    The donor lungs of the future — built from collagen or silicone rubber or engineered from donor organs stripped of their original cells — might give a new lease of life to COPD patients.

    • Elie Dolgin

  • Outlook |

    Researchers are counting on drugs that activate a master switch for antioxidant genes to protect lung tissue of COPD patients from an onslaught of free radicals.

    • Ken Garber

  • Letter |

    In a porcine cystic fibrosis model, lack of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is shown to result in acidification of airway surface liquid (ASL), and this decrease in pH reduces the ability of ASL to kill bacteria; the findings directly link loss of the CFTR anion channel to impaired defence against bacterial infection.

    • Alejandro A. Pezzulo
    • , Xiao Xiao Tang
    •  & Joseph Zabner

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