title: Introduction to asthma and phenotyping.
abstract: Asthma is an inflammatory disorder characterized by airway obstruction, airway hyperresponsiveness, and airway inflammation, all of which are variable among patients and variable in time within any specific patient. Understanding the mechanism that underlies this observed variability, and using that understanding to advance the science of asthma and the care of asthmatic patients, is an essential purpose of developing phenotypes. Clinical phenotypes have been used for decades, but overlap each other, and do not map cleanly to either pathophysiologic mechanism or with therapeutic response. Molecular phenotyping, although as yet only partially developed, offers the promise of dissecting the mechanistic underpinnings of the variability of asthma and of providing predictive therapeutics for the benefit of patients with this common and troubling disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, 4.118 John Sealy Annex, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX, 77555-0568, USA.
authors.forename: Regina A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pillai
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Calhoun
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010641:Phenotype; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D058408:Th1-Th2 Balance
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines