SKELETAL MUSCLE INFLAMMATION IN COPD

As Sin and Reid point out in their accompanying editorial to the paper by Barreiro and colleagues, skeletal muscle weakness is a serious problem in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and contributes to morbidity and mortality associated with the condition. Both systemic inflammation and oxidative stress have been proposed to play a role in the skeletal muscle dysfunction. In this month’s Thorax, Barreiro and colleagues describe a study in which cytokines were measured by a microarray technique in quadriceps biopsies from COPD patients and controls. The study showed that among the cytokines measured, TNFα …