Many of the disease-relevant mechanisms identified in the literature curation phase were corroborated by mechanisms predicted from COPD-relevant data sets using RCR (see Methods), including T-cell activation mechanisms (CD28 molecule (CD28) and T cell receptor beta locus (T\RB), and chemokines and cytokines that activate and are secreted by T-cells (chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 3 (CCR3), CCR5, IL2, interleukin 4 (IL4), interleukin 6 (IL6), interleukin 10 (IL10) and interleukin 13 (IL13)). Here, IL4 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.