COPD -- what causes the lungs to lose their ability to heal?

(Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health) In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the patients' lungs lose their ability to repair damages on their own. Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, partner in the German Center for Lung Research now have a new idea as to why this might be so. In the Journal of Experimental Medicine, they blame the molecule Wnt5a for this problem.