Aerosol Biomedical Science and PM2.5 Preventive Medicine

Aerosols, broadly referred to ultrafine particulate matters (PM) suspended in the air, have become a major global issue of concern due to their enormous influences to the environmental ecosystem and to human health. In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially announced that outdoor air pollution and the particulate matters suspended in air pollution are carcinogenic to humans. In Oct 2017, the Lancet commission on pollution and health further pointed out that the environmental pollution has become the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world today, responsible for an estimated 9 million of premature deaths in 2015, accounting for nearly 1/6 of all deaths worldwide. Among all types of environmental pollution (including air, water, occupational, soil, chemical and metals), air pollution alone was associated with ~ 6.5 millions of premature death. Among the substances in air pollution, particulate matters with an aerodynamic diameter ≦ 2.5 μm, therefore termed PM2.5, are particularly harmful to health as they are capable of entering deep into the lung alveoli sacs, or even permeating through the lung alveolar and entering the systemic circulation. Air pollution and PM2.5 issue is not only a global issue, but also one of the most urgent and life-threatening health concern in Taiwan. As reported by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan in June 2017, exposure of PM2.5 has become the 4th rank of risk factor in causing chronic diseases associated mortalities in Taiwan. Also in June 2017, the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan released the top ten leading causes of death of Taiwan for 2016, including: (1) malignant neoplasms (cancers); (2) heart diseases; (3) pneumonia; (4) cerebrovascular diseases; (5) diabetes mellitus; (6) accidents; (7) chronic lower respiratory diseases; (8) hypertensive diseases; (9) nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis; and (10) chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. Among these top ten killers in Taiwan, 9 out of 10 causes of death have been found to be associated, either directly or indirectly with PM2.5 exposure. These facts explicitly point out that PM2.5 exposure has become the most urgent issue of concern in causing adverse health effect, morbidities and mortalities in Taiwan. In addition to Taiwan, many countries in Asia also suffer tremendously from the high level of PM2.5. 

To address this issue, CCW Aerosol Lab is dedicating to developing aerosol biomedical science and PM2.5 preventive medicine from several perspectives. First, we study how exposure of aerosols made of specific chemical composition may lead to diseases, and investigate the possible pathological mechanism from the molecular level. Second, we are also trying to develop novel therapeutic strategies or new medicine which may prevent or alleviate PM2.5-associated diseases.  We are currently targeting on several common pulmonary diseases that are closely related with environmental exposure, including chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD).