VEGFA and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: For example, people with HIV are known to be at greater risk of COPD for unclear reasons, and the expression of ADAMTS1, which is involved in proteoglycan cleavage and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling and has been linked to COPD in other contexts, was significantly impaired in people with HIV (log fold change − 4.53, p < 0.001)49.