Grant: Operating Grant

Over 3 million Canadians suffer from lung diseases, which pose a significant challenge for the health care system. Asthma runs in families and is in part attributable to genetic factors. Similarly, a genetic predisposition is persuasive in chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and lung cancer since only a fraction of smokers develops these diseases. Recent genetic studies were particularly successful to identify the genetic factors of asthma, COPD and lung cancer. Despite these successes, these new genetic factors are merely statistical in nature and the biological mechanisms by which they alter individual risk for disease are still largely unknown. The aim of the current study is to validate and refine discoveries derived from the latest genetic studies on lung diseases. To achieve this goal, a large collection of human lung tissues available in our institution will be studied. These tissues have been taken from patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. Extensive clinical data are available for all patients, including lung function, smoking history, medication, and comorbidities. With modern genomic technologies, we can study these lung specimens and identify genetic markers that influence the abundance of genes in the lung. We can then overlap these genetic variants with those previously associated with asthma, COPD, and lung cancer. This fundamental molecular understanding will provide unprecedented biological information to reveal why some individuals are more susceptible than others to develop these lung diseases. We foresee high-impact outcomes to decrease the burden of these diseases including the identification of new drug targets and more cost-effective management of afflicted patients through personalized medicine. This project will take advantage of the best genomic approaches, the large volume of lung tissues available in our institution, and the renowned clinical expertise that we possess to manage, characterize and treat patients with lung diseases.