IL7R and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: The strong positive correlation between lnc-IL7R expression levels and spirometric pulmonary function indices, exemplified by a 4.9-fold reduction in lnc-IL7R expression level eliciting marked decline in FEV1 (L) (3.3-fold, r = 0.37), FEV1 (%) (3.4-fold, r = 0.52), and post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio (1.5-fold, r = 0.41) is of clinical significance especially as the contemporary definition of COPD is based on a fixed FEV1/FVC ratio or on the lower limits of FEV1/FVC of a healthy reference population [22].