Respiratory Diseases

Respiratory diseases are among the most common types of diseases and encompass a wide spectrum of conditions, from viral and bacterial infections to chronic diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Of the top 10 leading causes of death in 2023, two were respiratory diseases [1].

Responsiveness to environmental exposures such as air pollution, ozone, dust, animals, pests, mold, and tobacco smoke can worsen conditions like asthma and COPD. In addition, asthma is often associated with allergy, a dysfunctional hypersensitive immune response to environmental exposures and viral infections, resulting in the release of inflammatory mediators. This response often extends into the upper respiratory as allergic rhinitis. More research is needed to determine how environmental exposures as well as viruses affect the airways so we can develop better interventions to prevent and treat these conditions.

Other respiratory conditions, like those resulting from infection with the COVID-19 virus, are relatively new from a research perspective and additional research is required to understand the mechanisms behind the development of illness like long COVID and the array of additional effects COVID infection may influence.

In collaboration with respiratory disease experts, as well as internationally recognized allergy/immunology experts, at UNC and entities like Spirovation, (a specialty CRO affiliated with the Marsico Lung Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and the UNC Children’s Research Institute, the CRA facilitates research to understand respiratory biology associated with these conditions to develop new and innovative treatments.