Abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become a worldwide public health challenge due to its high prevalence, disability and mortality.Persistent airway and lung inflammation and the impaired structure of the lung are the main pathological features of COPD.Even after eliminating risk factors, the inflammation of COPD continuously progress, suggesting the existence of an inflammatory self-maintenance mechanism in COPD.Immune responses mediate the occurrence of inflammation in COPD, but the key mechanism is not well understood.This review summarized the mechanisms of adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis of COPD, and proposed that the autoimmune mechanism may be the key to the self-maintenance of chronic inflammation in COPD.Revealing the autoimmune pathogenesis is expected to bring a breakthrough in the early diagnosis and treatment of COPD.