TY - JOUR T1 - Highlights from this issue JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - i LP - ii DO - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-200849 VL - 66 IS - 9 AU - Andrew Bush AU - Ian Pavord Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/66/9/i.abstract N2 - Pollution is clearly not a good thing under any circumstances, and if you have lung disease it is even worse. We have come a long way from the ‘London Particular’ of Bleak House, but there is a long way to go yet. Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS) is the scourge of lung transplant recipients, and the commonest cause of late mortality. In this issue of the Journal, the Leuven lung transplant group modelled exposure to air traffic pollution and found that living near to a major road was an independent risk factor for BOS and death after transplantation, and also associated with greater BAL neutrophilia and IL-6 and plasma CRP levels. As was also discussed in the accompanying editorial, this report highlights two major issues. First, we must redouble our efforts to reduce traffic pollution. But perhaps more importantly, these data lead to the intriguing speculation that the initial irritant stimulus is from pollutants which trigger neutrophilic airway inflammation, which becomes self-perpetuating and leads to … ER -