RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Emerging anti-inflammatory strategies for COPD
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 724
OP 741
DO 10.1183/09031936.00213711
VO 40
IS 3
A1 Mario Cazzola
A1 Clive P. Page
A1 Luigino Calzetta
A1 M. Gabriella Matera
YR 2012
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/3/724.abstract
AB The hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an enhanced or abnormal inflammatory immune response of the lungs to inhaled particles and gases, usually from cigarette smoke, characterised by increased numbers of neutrophils, activated macrophages and activated T-lymphocytes (Tc1 and Th1 cells). Therefore, suppression of the inflammatory response is a logical approach to the treatment of COPD. Despite the inflammatory nature of COPD, currently available anti-inflammatory therapies provide little or no benefit in COPD patients and may have detrimental effects. For this reason, there is an urgent need to discover effective and safe anti-inflammatory treatments that might prevent the relentless progression of the disease. In recent years, attention has largely been focused on inhibition of recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells, and on antagonism of their products. In this review, we put together a summary of the state-of-the-art development of clearly and/or potentially useful anti-inflammatory strategies in COPD.