TUG1 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Gu and colleagues found a higher expression of lncRNA TUG1 in the sputum and lung tissues of COPD patients as compared with nonsmokers (Gu et al., 2019), and lncRNA TUG1 can regulate the cigarette smoke induced airway remodeling by sponging miR-145-5p in COPD patients.