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"It has not been very clear what causes the disease and there has been no therapy to stop or reverse lung destruction in emphysema," said Norbert Weissman of the University of Giessen Lung Center in Germany. "There have really been no new concepts about therapy in the last 20 years." COPD, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is expected to become the third-greatest cause of death worldwide by the year 2020. In addition to airway inflammation and decreased of respiratory function, COPD is often accompanied by pulmonary hypertension, which is essentially high blood pressure in the lungs. Whether this condition was...

Bitter taste receptors we have in our mouths were found to also exist in our lungs - what researchers discovered about these functioning receptors in the smooth muscle of the bronchus in the lungs may transform future treatment for asthma and obstructive lung diseases, scientists wrote in an article published in Nature Medicine. When bitter taste receptors in the lungs were exposed to certain doses of substances known to activate bitter taste receptors in the tongue, they opened up the airways better than most current medications are able to do. Senior author, Stephen B. Liggett, M.D., a pulmonologist from the...