Reports have suggested that the knockout of HSP72, a natural inhibitor of JNK leads to an increase in JNK activity (Park et al. 2001; Kitano et al. 2019) while patients with severe COPD have been noted to exhibit upregulated levels of JNK in their adipose tissues (Tkacova et al. 2011). Here, MAPK8 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.