Constrictive Bronchiolitis in Previously Deployed Soldiers
Abstract
Constrictive bronchiolitis is a lung disease characterized by inflammation and fibrotic narrowing of small airways. In 2011, King and colleagues reported a series of 38 active duty military personnel after deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan who were assessed for dyspnea on exertion and found by surgical lung biopsy to have constrictive bronchiolitis. While constrictive bronchiolitis is a unique clinical entity, the disease shares many pathologic features with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a much more common respiratory disease that is closely associated with chronic exposure to tobacco smoke. Like constrictive bronchiolitis, the small airways of patients with COPD are characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrotic remodeling. Therefore, we analyzed lung biopsy samples from Soldiers with biopsy-proven constrictive bronchiolitis and found that these airways had marked changes to the epithelial lining and impaired mucosal immune defenses, similar to our recently reported findings in COPD patients. Based on this information, we propose to investigate lung tissue samples from Soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis to determine correlations between abnormal epithelial lining, impaired mucosal defenses, and fibrotic remodeling of affected bronchioles. In addition, we have developed a new mouse model for studying constrictive bronchiolitis that is induced by exposure to sulfur dioxide. Together, our proposed studies will directly investigate the pathogenesis of constrictive bronchiolitis, an emerging health problem in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans and a Congressionally Directed Topic Area for the Fiscal Year 2016 Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. In addition, proposed studies will help us refine a new mouse model of constrictive bronchiolitis to provide critical preclinical data for future interventional trials in soldiers and Veterans with constrictive bronchiolitis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2018
- Source ID
- W81XWH1710503
Entities
People
- Vasiliy Polosukhin
Organizations
- United States Army
- Vanderbilt University