Personalized Therapy for Asthma and COPD Could Soon be Here

Viral infections can leave a trace of the virus...which appears to become a stimulus for ongoing asthma and COPD disorders...such as chronic bronchitis...and the study states the remnant could last a long time or even a life time...thus a personalized treatment plan for the exact remnant instead of an overall treatment therapy could be on the way...BD 

"We've cracked the first part of the molecular code that links a viral infection to the later development of chronic inflammatory diseases like asthma and COPD," says senior author Michael Holtzman, M.D., the Selma and Herman Seldin Professor of Medicine, director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and a pulmonary specialist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

"With this information, we can more precisely diagnose and monitor these types of diseases and then better target our treatment to specific abnormalities. That's a big step forward from simply monitoring breathing status."  The new findings show that patients with severe asthma and COPD may also share some mechanisms that cause their disease.  This will tell us how to diagnose and what to treat. Then, we must develop therapeutics that are directed to each type of response so that physicians can deliver a treatment that is tailored to the specific type of asthma or COPD found in that patient."

Newswise Medical News | Personalized Therapy for Asthma and COPD Could Soon be Here