Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26932377›Full record

ArticleClinical and translational medicine2014

Clinical significance of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): potential target for prevention of airway fibrosis and lung cancer.

Sukhwinder Singh Sohal, Malik Quasir Mahmood, Eugene Haydn Walters

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical and translational medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 87 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. HHIP's dynamic role in epithelial wound healing reveals a potential mechanism of COPD susceptibility.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. LAMC2 Drives Airway Remodeling in COPD via EMT Regulation Through the AKT Pathway.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2026
    Article
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  14. Bronchial epithelium epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity forms aberrant basaloid-like cells in vitro.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2022
    Article
  15. Article
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  18. Review
  19. Reviewing cancer's biology: an eclectic approach.Journal of the Egyptian National Cancer Institute · 2021
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Sukhwinder Singh SohalNHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for Chronic Respiratory Disease and Lung Ageing, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, MS-1, 17 Liverpool Street Private Bag-23, Hobart, 7000, TAS, Australia. sssohal@utas.edu.au.
Malik Quasir MahmoodNHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for Chronic Respiratory Disease and Lung Ageing, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, MS-1, 17 Liverpool Street Private Bag-23, Hobart, 7000, TAS, Australia. Malik.Mahmood@utas.edu.au.
Eugene Haydn WaltersNHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for Chronic Respiratory Disease and Lung Ageing, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, MS-1, 17 Liverpool Street Private Bag-23, Hobart, 7000, TAS, Australia. Haydn.Walters@utas.edu.au.
University of Tasmania · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Unfortunately, the research effort directed into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been disproportionately weak compared to its social importance, and indeed it is the least researched of all common chronic conditions. Tobacco smoking is the major etiological factor. Only 25% of smokers will develop "classic" COPD; in these vulnerable individuals the progression of airways disease to symptomatic COPD occurs over two or more decades. We know surprisingly little about the pathobiology of COPD airway disease, though small airway fibrosis and obliteration are likely to be the main contributors to physiological airway dysfunction and these features occur earlier than any subsequent development of emphysema. One potential mechanism contributing to small airway fibrosis/obliteration and change in extracellular matrix (ECM) is epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), so called Type-II EMT. When associated with angiogenesis (Type-III EMT) it may well also be a link with the development of lung (airway) cancer which is closely associated with COPD. Active EMT in COPD may help to explain why lung cancer is so common in smokers and also the core pathophysiology of small airway fibrosis. Better understanding may lead to new markers for incipient neoplasia, and better preventive management of patients. There is serious need to understand key components of airway EMT in smokers and COPD, and to demarcate novel drug targets for the prevention of lung cancer and airway fibrosis, as well as better secondary management of COPD. Since over 90% of human cancer arises in epithelia and the involvement of EMT in all of these may be a central paradigm, insights gained in COPD may have important generalizable value.

Indexed as

Airway remodellingCOPDEpitheliumFibroblasts/myofibroblastsFibrosisLarge airwaysLung cancerRbm fragmentationSmall airwaysSmoking

Identifiers

PMID26932377
PMCPMC4607924
OpenAlexW2116799626

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.