HAVCR2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Furthermore, it supports our hypothesis that TIM-3 genetic variants with favorable outcomes (TIM-3 rs1036199 AA and TIM-3 rs10515746 CC) might have a strengthened T-cell-mediated immune reaction, which is beneficial in the clinical course of sepsis but at the same time leads to a higher susceptibility to autoimmune diseases or chronic inflammatory diseases such as COPD and bronchial asthma [42].