Identification of Novel Therapeutic Targets in COPD.

COPD is an important lung and airway disease with an increasing incidence particularly in developing countries. Worldwide, asthma and COPD affect the lives of ~300 and 200 million people, respectively (1). COPD is a chronic inflammatory disease for which smoking is the major risk factor in the developed world and is currently the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. It is predicted to become the third ranked disease by the year 2030 (2, 3). Unfortunately, there are no effective treatments for severe asthma and COPD due to a lack of clarity in disease mechanisms. However, new observations in the areas of signal transduction and epigenetics may provide new understanding of the pathogenesis of lung diseases. Understanding the pathways and mechanisms leading to mediator release may lead to better therapeutic approaches for these diseases. The inflammatory mediators involved in COPD have not been clearly delineated but are thought to include many lipid mediators, inflammatory peptides, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen species, chemokines, cytokines and growth factors. These are