FIGURE 1.

Genes associated with development of aging lung diseases idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Disease-predisposing genes overlap but alleles have opposite effect size. Aging and a history of noxious exposure changes genetic requirements for maintenance of a healthy lung. In the aged lung, subtle differences in gene expression conferred by risk alleles in DSP, FAM13A and TERT, can influence biological processes and increase risk for specific aging-associated lung diseases. Presence of disease contributes to tissue aging and increase the risk for secondary lung cancer. GENENAME^high, allele associated with increased gene expression; GENENAME_low, allele associated with decreased gene expression.