title: New concepts in asthma: clinical phenotypes and pathophysiological mechanisms.
abstract: Asthma is among the most common chronic inflammatory diseases worldwide. Recent evidence indicates that the pathogenesis shows a high degree of heterogeneity. Patient subsets have been identified that exhibit different cellular and molecular patterns of dysregulation. A prominent example is eosinophilic Th2-driven asthma. These unique and molecular patterns are termed endotypes. Characterization of endotypes has broad implications for therapeutic interventions. Although ∼80% of asthmatic patients respond well to standard anti-inflammatory therapies, the remaining subset particularly consisting of severe patients requires a more specialized endotype-specific approach. This interrelationship between clinical phenotypes, molecular endotypes and endotype-specific therapies is the focus of this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg, Philipps-University Marburg, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Baldingerstrasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Koczulla
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg, Philipps-University Marburg, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Baldingerstrasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Vogelmeier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Molecular Diagnostics, Philipps University Marburg, Medical Faculty, Baldingerstrasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Garn
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Molecular Diagnostics, Philipps University Marburg, Medical Faculty, Baldingerstrasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany. Electronic address: renzh@med.uni-marburg.de.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Renz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype