PTEN and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Published data have demonstrated an association betweenPTEN (rs701848) and COPD; the risk was significantly reducedfor homozygous T allele carriers, which is consistentwith the data obtained for our sample (Hosgood et al., 2009).PTEN participates in the regulation of various biologicalprocesses, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, inflammatoryreactions, transcription, and genomic stability (Cai et al.,2022).