Dr Jeffrey T.J. Huang is a translational biochemist with a specialised focus on clinical biomarker research. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and Biomedicine from National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) and completed his PhD at the University of Manchester. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Huang’s research centres on the development of biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis, endotyping, and therapeutic development in chronic airway and cardiovascular diseases. His laboratory employs mass spectrometry, a powerful analytical technique that measures mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) of ionised molecules in biological fluids, to identify molecular signatures associated with specific clinical phenotypes and outcomes. Over the course of his career, Dr Huang and his collaborators have pioneered the discovery and validation of multiple biomarkers relevant to chronic airway diseases, with numerous publications contributing to the field (e.g., 1–6). Dr Huang is a strong advocate for using mass spectrometry in biomarker development and is a co-chair of the Desmosine Working Group for qualifying desmosine as a biomarker for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Current Research Interests

• Sputum-Based Diagnostics for Chronic Airway Diseases

Chronic respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and bronchiectasis exhibit significant heterogeneity in their aetiology, pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical outcomes, and therapeutic responses, which complicates disease management and impedes drug development. Dr Huang’s laboratory seeks to address this clinical heterogeneity through the application of mass spectrometry. The primary goal is the development of sputum-based diagnostics and biomarkers capable of informing and guiding personalised treatment strategies for chronic airway diseases. A recent publication from his group provides a conceptual framework for this approach (7).

• Clinical Implications of Elastin Degradation in Chronic Airway Diseases

Elastin degradation is a pathological hallmark of COPD and bronchiectasis. Given the limited regenerative capacity of adult tissues to synthesise elastin, monitoring this degenerative process is considered very importance. Dr Huang is recognised as a leading authority on elastin turnover, having developed a stable isotope dilution method to reliably quantify elastin degradation rates and activity in urine and blood samples (8). His work, in collaboration with others, has demonstrated the prognostic utilities of circulating desmosine in predicting all-cause mortality in patients with COPD, bronchiectasis, and cardiovascular diseases (1, 2, 4, 9). Moreover, based on a large-scale cohort analysis, Dr Huang has proposed an innovative ageing concept, wherein the interplay between ageing and disease (e.g., COPD or bronchiectasis) accelerates elastin turnover across multiple pathological conditions (10). Dr Huang is currently engaged in efforts to further validate the prognostic utility of desmosine. In the absence of effective therapeutic interventions to mitigate pathological elastin degradation, Dr Huang has been working closely with several industrial and academic partners to use desmosine as a tool for determining therapeutic responses, with several successful outcomes reported.

Selected publication

1. Huang JT, Chaudhuri R, Albarbarawi O, et al. Clinical validity of plasma and urinary desmosine as biomarkers for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Thorax 2012; 67(6): 502-8.
2. Chalmers JD, Moffitt KL, Suarez-Cuartin G, et al. Neutrophil Elastase Activity is Associated with Exacerbations and Lung Function Decline in Bronchiectasis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2017; 195(10): 1384-93.
3. Finch S, Shoemark A, Dicker AJ, et al. Pregnancy Zone Protein Is Associated with Airway Infection, Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation, and Disease Severity in Bronchiectasis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2019; 200(8): 992-1001.
4. Huang JT, Kuzmanova E, Dicker AJ, et al. Serum Desmosine is Associated with Long-term All-cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Bronchiectasis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2020; 202(6): 897-9.
5. Keir HR, Shoemark A, Dicker AJ, et al. Neutrophil extracellular traps, disease severity, and antibiotic response in bronchiectasis: an international, observational, multicohort study. Lancet Respir Med 2021; 9(8): 873-84.
6. Keir HR, Shoemark A, Huang JTJ, Chalmers JD. SPLUNC1 is a novel marker of disease severity and airway infection in bronchiectasis. Eur Respir J 2021; 58(5).
7. Huang JT, Cant E, Keir HR, et al. Endotyping Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Bronchiectasis, and the "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-Bronchiectasis Association". Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2022; 206(4): 417-26.
8. Albarbarawi O, Barton A, Lin Z, et al. Measurement of urinary total desmosine and isodesmosine using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 2010; 82(9): 3745-50.