Demonstration of the Diagnostic Character of the Rheology of Mucus

This is a prospective study comparing 4 groups: (1) non-smoking controls, (2) smokers without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (3) smokers with COPD, (4) severe asthma.

Bronchial biopsy specimens from each subject will be obtained to produce air-liquid-interface cell cultures. These will then be used to make observations concerning cilia and mucus rheology.

This is a first pilot study. The working hypothesis is that the largest group differences will be found for cilia densities; the latter metric was thus chosen as a primary criterion.