SERPINA1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: It has been shown that lung function is genetically determined [2,3], however so far only low-prevalent polymorphisms have been consistently associated with COPD development across independent studies, i.e. the Glu342Lys substitution in SERPINA1 (frequency 1%–3% in Caucasians) that leads to a1-antitrypsin deficiency [6-8] and the Arg213Gly substitution in Superoxide Dismutase 3 (frequency 1%–2% in Caucasians) [9,10], suggesting that low-prevalent SNPs are important contributors to COPD development.