Emphysema-associated Autoreactive Antibodies Exacerbate Post–Lung Transplant Ischemia–Reperfusion Injury

What is it about?

Patients with a cigarette smoke exposure history develop a well characterized autoimmune phenotype, predominantly directed against lung specific epitopes. As one of the major indications for lung transplantation, this underlying autoimmunity carries clinically relevant implications, and helps partly explain why this patient population does so poorly. We provide evidence here that lung-specific autoantibodies formed in response to cigarette smoke exposure have perioperative relevance in the development of post-transplantation ischemia-reperfusion injury, likely via activation of the complement system.

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