Ray Anuradha, Oriss Timothy B, Wenzel Sally E
University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2015 Jan 15;308(2):L130-40. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00070.2014. Epub 2014 Oct 17.
Although asthma has long been considered a heterogeneous disease, attempts to define subgroups of asthma have been limited. In recent years, both clinical and statistical approaches have been utilized to better merge clinical characteristics, biology, and genetics. These combined characteristics have been used to define phenotypes of asthma, the observable characteristics of a patient determined by the interaction of genes and environment. Identification of consistent clinical phenotypes has now been reported across studies. Now the addition of various 'omics and identification of specific molecular pathways have moved the concept of clinical phenotypes toward the concept of molecular phenotypes. The importance of these molecular phenotypes is being confirmed through the integration of molecularly targeted biological therapies. Thus the global term asthma is poised to become obsolete, being replaced by terms that more specifically identify the pathology associated with the disease.
尽管哮喘长期以来一直被认为是一种异质性疾病，但对哮喘亚组进行定义的尝试却很有限。近年来，临床和统计学方法都被用于更好地整合临床特征、生物学和遗传学。这些综合特征已被用于定义哮喘的表型，即由基因与环境相互作用所决定的患者可观察到的特征。目前已有研究报告了一致的临床表型。现在，各种“组学”的加入以及特定分子途径的识别，已将临床表型的概念转向分子表型的概念。这些分子表型的重要性正通过分子靶向生物疗法的整合得到证实。因此，“哮喘”这个通用术语可能会过时，取而代之的是更具体地识别与该疾病相关病理的术语。
