Update in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 2008

The last year has seen important new information published on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), its pathogenesis, systemic effects, exacerbations, and treatment. Several important new COPD research programs have been initiated during the past year, including the Sub-Populations and Intermediate Outcomes Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS) program, which will categorize patients on the basis of molecular fingerprinting and will attempt to identify and validate intermediate outcome measures in COPD. The Evaluation of COPD Longitudinally to Identify Predictive Surrogate Endpoints (ECLIPSE) study (1) aims to define clinically relevant COPD subtypes and identify genetic factors and biomarkers that correlate with these COPD subtypes and predict disease progression. In addition, several large research consortia have been established, including the COPD clinical research network and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute–funded lung tissue research consortium (2).