What does AAT stand for?

Topics include smoking and prognosis of surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer, smoking-induced lung destruction and its association with recurrence and death from early-stage lung cancer, alpha-1-antitrypsin and neutrophil elastase in lung cancer development, trends of lung cancer in Serbia, interpretation principles and ethical considerations in lung cancer screening, genetic susceptibility to second-hand smoke, passive smoking as a conditioner of food habits and nutritional status, women and lung cancer, and smoking and radon related lung cancers.

Intravenous alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) is used to treat alpha-1 deficiency, a hereditary disease, which can lead to emphysema.

Studies have demonstrated that monthly administration of the substance significantly increases the level of alpha-1-antitrypsin in the blood and lungs.

Grant programs such as the Talecris Biotherapeutics Alpha-1 Research Initiative and the European Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Laurell's Training Award (eALTA), which support basic and clinical research and education through grants provided to early career investigators, fellows-in-training, and other Alpha-1 health care professionals, are continuing.

Koczulla's project, "Quantification of Alpha-1-Antitrypsin in Exhaled Breath Condensate of Patients with Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Deficiency, Smokers, and COPD Patients," intends to create a non-invasive tool to measure Alpha-1-Antitrypsin levels, examine correlations with markers of pulmonary inflammation, and ultimately help guide disease therapy.

Alpha-1 is a form of congenital emphysema that causes degradation of a patient's lung tissue due to inadequate production of alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT).