Is there still hope for single therapies: How do we set up experimental systems to efficiently test combination therapies?

Abstract

Severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are chronic lung diseases with a clear need for development of new and more efficient therapy. In preclinical research, the mouse model has been instrumental in advancing our knowledge of the biology and immunology. However, it has been proven rather difficult and time consuming to develop new treatments that can impact on the clinical course of these diseases. Many challenges need to be overcome for upgrading the quality of currently available experimental disease models in order to enhance the translation rate of basic research to clinical practice. Establishment of transgenic mouse overexpressing disease-causing genes may provide tools to discover new pathological pathways and to evaluate the possibility of molecular targeted therapy in chronic lung diseases. Personalized medicine, if developed, might be the solution for 'disease heterogeneity' and for improving clinical outcome.

Year in review 2015: Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…As part of the Respirology series of invited reviews, Joos and colleagues gave an insightful appraisal of ways that drug development for respiratory disease, which is being increasingly recognized as complex and heterogeneous, might be approached. Although there were no specific solutions proposed, they did suggest that careful phenotyping of patients would become increasingly important …”

“…Although there were no specific solutions proposed, they did suggest that careful phenotyping of patients would become increasingly important. 23 Phenotyping asthma based on airway inflammatory profile is now well established, in both research and specialist asthma clinics. Airway inflammation may be classified as eosinophilic, neutrophilic, mixed granulocytic and paucicellular with management altering accordingly.…”