title: Therapeutic applications.
abstract: The current treatments offered to patients with chronic respiratory diseases are being re-evaluated based on the loss of potency during long-term treatments or because they only provide significant clinical benefits to a subset of the patient population. For instance, glucocorticoids are considered the most effective anti-inflammatory therapies for chronic inflammatory and immune diseases, such as asthma. But they are relatively ineffective in asthmatic smokers, and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or cystic fibrosis (CF). As such, the pharmaceutical industry is exploring new therapeutic approaches to address all major respiratory diseases. The previous chapters demonstrated the widespread influence of purinergic signaling on all pulmonary functions and defense mechanisms. In Chap. 8, we described animal studies which highlighted the critical role of aberrant purinergic activities in the development and maintenance of chronic airway diseases. This last chapter covers all clinical and pharmaceutical applications currently developed based on purinergic receptor agonists and antagonists. We use the information acquired in the previous chapters on purinergic signaling and lung functions to scrutinize the preclinical and clinical data, and to realign the efforts of the pharmaceutical industry.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 29799, USA, stephen_tilley@med.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tilley
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Volmer
authors.forename: Maryse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Picher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D058913:Purinergic Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058914:Purinergic Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011687:Purines / Q000378:metabolism*; D011983:Receptors, Purinergic / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D058913:Purinergic Agonists; D058914:Purinergic Antagonists; D011687:Purines; D011983:Receptors, Purinergic