Protease-armed, Pathogenic Extracellular Vesicles Link Smoking and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Mounting evidence demonstrates a role for extracellular vesicles (EVs) in driving lung disorders, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although cigarette smoke (CS) is the primary risk factor for COPD, a link between CS and the EVs that could lead to COPD is unknown. To ascertain whether exposure to CS elicits a proteolytic EV signature capable of driving disease pathogenesis.

Impact of extracellular vesicles on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and potential therapy in cardiopulmonary disease.

Cardiopulmonary diseases span a wide breadth of conditions affecting both heart and lung, the burden of which is globally significant. Chronic pulmonary disease and cardiovascular disease are two of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This makes it critical to understand disease pathogenesis, thereby providing new diagnostic and therapeutic avenues to improve clinical outcomes.