Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42417165›Full record

ArticleJCI insight2026

Pulmonary fibrosis after COVID-19 is characterized by airway abnormalities and elevated club cell secretory protein-16.

Matthew R Baldwin, Ansley E Jones, David Zhang, Chandan Gurung, Zain Khan, Anjali Saqi, Xuehan Yang, Ying Wei, Renu Nandakumar, Scarlett O Murphy and 16 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in JCI insight, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Age-dependent Genetic Risk in Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients and Relatives.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
    Article
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

26 authors.

Matthew R BaldwinDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Ansley E JonesDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
David ZhangDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Chandan GurungDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Zain KhanDepartment of Biostatistics, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA.
Anjali SaqiDepartment of Pathology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Xuehan YangDepartment of Biostatistics, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA.
Ying WeiDepartment of Biostatistics, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA.
Renu NandakumarIrving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
Scarlett O MurphyDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Claire F McGroderDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Faisal ShaikhDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Selim ArcasoyDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Luke BenvenutoDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Harpreet GrewalDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Benjamin M SmithDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Eric A HoffmanDepartment of Radiology, Internal Medicine, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
Agnes Cy YuenDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Parteek JohalDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Christopher CarlstenDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Christopher J RyersonDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
J Brent RichardsDepartments of Medicine, Human Genetics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Alyson W WongDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Tomoko NakanishiDepartment of Human Genetics, and.
Aditi S ShahDivision of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Christine Kim GarciaDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.

Funding

Clinical and Translational Science AwardUL1TR001873 · NCATS · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI REILLY, MUREDACH P · 2016 to 2025
$99.0M
Subclinical Interstitial Lung Disease in MESA and FAR-ILDR01HL103676 · NHLBI · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI GARCIA, CHRISTINE KIM · 2011 to 2020
$6.4M
Leica Stellaris 8 Confocal MicroscopeS10OD032447 · OD · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI SNOECK, HANS-WILLEM E · 2022 to 2022
$652k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001873NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL103676NIH HHS S10 OD032447
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThere are no known serum biomarkers that provide mechanistic insight or prognostic enrichment for post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis.METHODSWe tested associations of serum biomarkers with radiographic fibrosis-like abnormalities (reticulation, traction bronchiectasis, or honeycombing) on thoracic computed tomography (CT) scans 4 months, 15 months, and 3 years after hospitalization in an American discovery cohort of severe-to-critical COVID-19 survivors, and externally validated findings in 2 Canadian cohorts of moderate-to-critical COVID-19 survivors. In the discovery cohort, we investigated the dose-response relationship of the biomarker with CT-derived airway-to-lung ratio. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of transbronchial lung biopsies from COVID-19 survivors obtained 3 years after COVID-19 hospitalization and conducted immunofluorescence analysis of COVID-19 lung explants.RESULTSAmong 150 discovery cohort participants, only higher levels of circulating club cell secretory protein-16 (CC16, encoded by the SCGB1A1 gene) at hospital discharge, 4 months, 15 months, and 3 years were associated with thoracic CT fibrosis-like abnormalities in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Higher CC16 levels were associated with thoracic CT fibrosis-like abnormalities in 2 validation cohorts (n = 56 and n = 37). CC16 levels were linearly associated with increased airway-to-lung ratio. scRNA-seq revealed increased proportions of epithelial cells expressing SCGB1A1 and SCGB1A1/MUC5B in COVID-19 survivors with fibrosis. Immunofluorescence analysis of COVID-19 lung explants demonstrated increased numbers of SCGB1A1-expressing epithelial cells only in small (<100 μm) airways, with 3-fold more CC16/MUC5B-coexpressing cells in respiratory bronchioles..CONCLUSION. Higher CC16 levels are associated with CT fibrosis-like abnormalities for up to 3 years following moderate-to-critical COVID-19. Increased CC16 reflects dysregulated small airway epithelial progenitor cell remodeling and increased expansion of CC16+MUC5B+ epithelial cells in respiratory bronchioles after COVID-19.TRIAL REGISTRATIONNot applicable.FUNDINGDepartment of Defense, NIH, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists.

Indexed as

COVID-19LungPulmonary FibrosisUteroglobinAgedBiomarkersFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPost-Acute COVID-19 SyndromeSARS-CoV-2Tomography, X-Ray ComputedBiomarkersSCGB1A1 protein, humanUteroglobinBiomarkersCOVID-19FibrosisInfectious diseasePulmonology

Identifiers

PMID42417165
PMCPMC13460843

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.