Autoantibody profiles in patients with COPD and non-COPD smokers

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent disease leading to irreversible airflow limitation and is characterized by chronic pulmonary inflammation，obstructive bronchiolitis and emphysema. Etiologically, COPD is mediated by toxic gases and particles, e.g. cigarette smoke, while the pathogenesis of the disease is largely unknown. Several lines of evidence indicate a link between COPD and autoimmunity but comprehensive studies are lacking. By using a protein microarray assaying more than 19,000 human proteins we determined in this study the autoantibody profiles of COPD and non-COPD smokers. 10 serum samples were included, 5 from COPD patients and 5 from non-COPD smokers. These are dual channel arrays analyzed with each channel analyzed separately.