Machine learning assisted immune profiling of COPD identifies a unique emphysema subtype independent of GOLD stage

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a severe, progressive, and heterogeneous disease with a poor outcome. Inflammation plays a central role in disease pathogenesis; however, the interplay between immune changes and disease heterogeneity has been difficult to unravel. We performed a multilevel immunoinflammatory characterization of patients with COPD using flow cytometry, cytokine profiling, single-cell, or spatial transcriptomics in combination with machine learning algorithms. Our cross-cohort analysis demonstrated shared skewing of immune profiles in COPD lungs toward adaptive immune cells. We furthermore identified a subgroup of patients with COPD with a distinct immune profile, characterized by increased antigen-presenting cells, mast cells, and CD8(+) cells, and circulating IL-1

• Bordag, N.
• Jandl, K.
• Syarif, A. H.
• Gindlhuber, J.
• Schnoegl, D.
• Mutgan, A. C.
• Foris, V.
• Hoetzenecker, K.
• Boehm, P. M.
• Breyer-Kohansal, R.
• Zeder, K.
• Gorkiewicz, G.
• Polverino, F.
• Crnkovic, S.
• Kwapiszewska, G.
• Marsh, L. M.