Trial reportInternational journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease2014
A randomized controlled trial of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in large airway samples in COPD: an exploratory proof of concept study.
Trial report in International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inhaled corticosteroid normalizes some but not all airway vascular remodeling in COPD.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2016Trial
- Association between inhaled corticosteroids and anti-PD-1/PD-L1 efficacy in patients with NSCLC with concurrent COPD.iScience · 2026Article
- Circular RNA FCHO2 promotes airway remodeling in COPD via regulating nuclear translocation of PTBP1 to repress the splicing of GRN pre-mRNA.Cell death & disease · 2025Article
- Impact of asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on the survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma.Therapeutic advances in medical oncology · 2025Article
- Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is an active process in the large airways of patients with asthma-COPD overlap and partially abrogated by inhaled corticosteroid treatment: a bronchoscopy endobronchial biopsy study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Tobacco and COPD: presenting the World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Knowledge Summary.Respiratory research · 2024Review
- Large airway wall vascularity in patients with asthma-COPD overlap: a bronchoscopy study.ERJ open research · 2024Article
- Epithelial-mesenchymal transition changes in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients with early COPD.ERJ open research · 2023Article
- Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Mechanisms in Chronic Airway Diseases: A Common Process to Target?International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- cAMP-PDE signaling in COPD: Review of cellular, molecular and clinical features.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2023Review
- Another point of view for meta-analysis studies focused on protective inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of lung cancer.Translational lung cancer research · 2022Article
- Differential airway remodeling changes were observed in patients with asthma COPD overlap compared to patients with asthma and COPD alone.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2022Article
- The effects of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions in COPD induced by cigarette smoke: an update.Respiratory research · 2022Review
- Therapeutic Modalities for Asthma, COPD, and Pathogenesis of COVID-19: Insights from the Special Issue.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- The Underappreciated Role of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Its Strong Link to Lung Cancer.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- Fully integrating pathophysiological insights in COPD: an updated working disease model to broaden therapeutic vision.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2021Review
- Increased myofibroblasts in the small airways, and relationship to remodelling and functional changes in smokers and COPD patients: potential role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition.ERJ open research · 2021Article
- Inhaled corticosteroids and risk of lung cancer among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: a comprehensive analysis of nine prospective cohorts.Translational lung cancer research · 2021Article
- Association between COPD exacerbations and lung function decline during maintenance therapy.Thorax · 2020Observational
- Aesculetin Attenuates Alveolar Injury and Fibrosis Induced by Close Contact of Alveolar Epithelial Cells with Blood-Derived Macrophages via IL-8 Signaling.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe recently reported that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is active in the airways in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), suggesting presence of an active profibrotic and promalignant stroma. With no data available on potential treatment effects, we undertook a blinded analysis of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) effects versus placebo on EMT markers in previously obtained endobronchial biopsies in COPD patients, as a "proof of concept" study.
methodsAssessment of the effects of inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP; 500 μg twice daily for 6 months) versus placebo in 34 COPD patients (23 on fluticasone propionate and eleven on placebo). The end points were epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; marker of epithelial activation) and the biomarkers of EMT: reticular basement membrane (Rbm) fragmentation ("hallmark" structural marker), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) cell expression, and S100A4 expression in basal epithelial and Rbm cells (mesenchymal transition markers).
resultsEpithelial activation, "clefts/fragmentation" in the Rbm, and changes in the other biomarkers all regressed on ICS, at or close to conventional levels of statistical significance. From these data, we have been able to nominate primary and secondary end points and develop power calculations that would be applicable to a definitive prospective study.
conclusionAlthough only a pilot "proof of concept" study, this trial provided strong suggestive support for an anti-EMT effect of ICS in COPD airways. A larger and fully powered prospective study is now indicated as this issue is likely to be extremely important. Such studies may clarify the links between ICS use and better clinical outcomes and protection against lung cancer in COPD.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.