上皮间充质转化与慢性阻塞性肺疾病的气道重塑

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the airway remodeling of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

慢性阻塞性肺疾病(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,COPD)是一组以持续气流受限和肺功能损害为特征的慢性气道炎症性疾病,反复的炎症损伤和组织修复可导致气道重塑,目前有关气道重塑形成的机制尚不全面。越来越多的研究表明,上皮间充质转化(epithelial-mesenchymal transition,EMT)在COPD气道重塑中发挥重要作用,气道上皮可通过多种细胞因子及信号通路来诱发EMT,从而导致COPD气道重塑。文中对EMT进行了系统介绍,并就EMT与COPD气道重塑的关系以及EMT在气道重塑中可能的作用机制作一综述。

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD） is a group of chronic airway inflammatory disease characterized by sustained airflow limitation and pulmonary function damage. Inflammation and tissue repair repeatedly result in airway remodeling. Now the mechanisms of airway remodeling remain unclear. More and more researches indicated that epithelial mesenchymal transition （EMT） is crucial in the airway remodeling of COPD. EMT could be induced by various cell factors and signal channels in the airway epithelium, thus the airway remodeling happened. This review systematically introduces EMT and focuses on the relationship of EMT and airway remodeling of COPD and the probable mechanisms.