Current Drug Targets - Volume 14, Issue 2, 2013

Genetic, immune and environmental interactions are key elements for the development of COPD. Cigarette smoking is considered the primary risk factor initiating inflammatory cascades in genetically susceptible individuals. The “danger signals” elicited by the injured cells of non-specific immunity induce the downstream activation of proinflammatory cascades and antigen-specific adaptive immune responses. The produc Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been recently characterized as a disease of accelerated lung aging. The prevalence of COPD is age-dependent suggesting an intimate relationship between the pathogenesis of COPD and aging. Lung function decline, the hallmark feature of COPD evolution, is more prominent with increasing age and this decline is greater in smoking individuals. One of the major goals of COP Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a public health problem that results in high morbidity, disability and mortality. Comorbidities are highly prevalent in COPD patients because of aging, common risk factors and pathways, rising mortality, and disability. In this review article we present the most prevalent co-morbidities in COPD patients, we face the issue of multimorbidity and discuss the practical management approac Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex, multicomponent disease at the clinical, cellular, and molecular levels. Over the past few years there has been a growing interest in the field of biomarkers in COPD and a large number of studies have evaluated potential candidate molecules in different patient settings. Data on systemic biomarkers from large cohorts, including the well-characterized population of t Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a devastating illness characterized by airway and systemic inflammation, progressive airway obstruction and exacerbations. It is a major cause of chronic morbidity and mortality, projected to be the third leading cause of death by the year 2020. Although there is currently no definite cure, COPD is both a preventable and treatable disease. Important changes in our perspect Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Oxidative stress is an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of this disease. The oxidant/ antioxidant imbalance occurring in smokers and patients with COPD is well established. Thus, therapeutic strategies targeting oxidative stress with pharmacological antioxidant agents or boosting the endogenous levels of antioxida Read More

Inflammation plays a central role in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD related inflammation is less responsive to inhaled steroids compared to asthma. There are three major novel anti-inflammatory approaches to the management of COPD. The first approach is phosphodiesterase inhibitors, such as roflumilast which provides additional clinical benefit either as a single agent or as an additive treat Read More

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is characterized by dramatic alterations in lung architecture associated to an exaggerated inflammatory process, alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis, endothelial dysfunction and extracellular matrix destruction due to a protease and anti-protease imbalance. In addition a significant inflammatory spillover into systemic circulation has been suggested to be responsible for a wide ran Read More

The NETT study has shown the effectiveness of lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) in improving functional parameters and exercise tolerance in selected patients with severe pulmonary emphysema of upper lobe predominance. A number of bronchoscopic techniques have since been developed under the term “bronchoscopic lung volume reduction” (BLVR), aiming to lower the complications and the cost while facilitati Read More

Locomotor muscle dysfunction and weakness are frequently observed in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In addition to intolerable sensations of dyspnoea which importantly contribute to exercise limitation, intrinsic muscle abnormalities have also been implicated in inducing leg muscle fatigue/discomfort during exercise in these patients. It is, however, uncertain whether these intrinsic muscle abno Read More