Dysregulation of the "inflammatory reflex" with abnormal neurohumoral activation may contribute to proinflammatory activity driving the progression of COPD

We would like to thank S. Andreas for his interest in our study [1] and for the interesting comments. We agree with the insightful reasoning that subtle neurohormonal activation may be one of the explanations underlying the longitudinal association between subtle signs of cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In parallel to the findings in heart failure [2] and COPD [3], manifest clinical entities of cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, such as orthostatic hypotension [4, 5] and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome [6], are all associated with clear signs of neurohormonal activation and inflammatory activation playing in the background.

Source: European Respiratory Journal - June 7, 2018 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Ricci, F., Wollmer, P., Engström, G., Fedorowski, A., Hamrefors, V. Tags: Original Articles: Correspondence Source Type: research