View clinical trials related to Small Airway Disease.
Filter by:Severe asthma is now widely accepted to be a heterogeneous syndrome consisting of multiple phenotypes identified by specific biomarkers and targeted by tailored biological therapies. However, much remains unclear regarding the best approaches to manage these patients, or concerning the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the disease. Small airway (SA) are defined as those airways with an internal diameter <2 mm. In patients affected by asthma, it has been reported that SA are the predominant site of airflow resistance. Peripheral airways are thickened in asthma due to chronic inflammation in the epithelium, submucosa and muscle area. It has been suggested that the outer wall is more inflamed than the inner wall, with a higher number of lymphocytes, eosinophils, and neutrophils associated to an increased expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-5 (IL-5) and eotaxin. Moreover, it is well documented that SA inflammation and dysfunction contribute significantly to the clinical impact of asthma and that 50-60% of asthmatics have a SA involvement across all disease severities. An important question is whether SA disease in asthma is variable among distinct asthma phenotypes and whether it occurs in all patients. Cluster analyses have been recently used to identify specific asthma phenotypes, but markers of SA function have not been investigated. However, evidence is accumulating to support that SA dysfunction and inflammation may contribute to distinct asthma phenotypes. Recent findings indicate that SA are significantly affected in severe asthma and that their involvement is associated with worse disease outcomes. It has been reported that patients with asthma and a history of frequent exacerbations per year had a significant SA involvement. Furthermore, peripheral airways significantly contribute not only to the level of asthma control, but also to patients' quality of life and perception of symptoms. At last more thickened SA and higher numbers of eosinophils are detectable in subjects with fatal asthma. The assessment of SA represents a big challenge and requires qualified expertise and sophisticated techniques including body plethysmography, single and multiple breath nitrogen washout, impulse oscillometry (IOS), fraction exhaled NO at multiflow, sputum induction and high-resolution chest CT (HRCT). Such procedures can either provide functional information on the degree/extent of ventilation heterogeneity and air trapping or facilitate the understanding of the inflammatory and remodeling processes. In addition, a number of clinical trials have in recent years demonstrated the efficacy of biologics in severe asthma. Omalizumab, a humanized anti-Imunoglobulin E monoclonal antibody (mAb) has been well recognized as an important option for treating allergic asthma as an add- on therapy for uncontrolled disease. Three anti-IL-5 therapies are currently available for the treatment of severe asthma, including Mepolizumab, Reslizumab, and Benralizumab. The newest biologic agent to be approved is Dupilumab that is a human mAb that targets the subunit of the IL-4 receptor. Biologics represent an innovative strategy for the treatment of severe asthma. In most patients with SAD these drugs control inflammation, improve lung function, ameliorate clinical symptoms, reduce exacerbations and have a marked steroid-sparing effect. However, there is still a significant proportion of non-responders and a lack of validated predictive biomarkers in such subpopulation. In regard to this, very limited findings are available about the effect of biologics therapy on SA.
Rationale Although the majority of asthma patients can be effectively treated with currently available medications, a substantial subset remains severe, causing a considerable proportion of resource expenditure. Severe asthma is now widely accepted to be a heterogeneous syndrome consisting of multiple phenotypes identified by specific biomarkers and targeted by tailored biological therapies. However, much remains unclear regarding the best approaches to manage these patients, or concerning the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the disease. Small airways (SA) are defined as those airways with an internal diameter <2 mm. In patients affected by asthma, it has been reported that SA are the predominant site of airflow resistance. Peripheral airways are thickened in asthma due to chronic inflammation in the epithelium, submucosa and muscle area. It has been suggested that the outer wall is more inflamed than the inner wall, with a higher number of lymphocytes, eosinophils, and neutrophils associated to an increased mRNA expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5 and eotaxin. Moreover, it is well documented that SA inflammation and dysfunction contributes significantly to the clinical impact of asthma and that 50-60% of asthmatics have a SA involvement across all disease severities. An important question is whether SA disease in asthma is variable among distinct asthma phenotypes and whether it occurs in all patients. Cluster analyses have been recently used to identify specific asthma phenotypes, but markers of SA function have not been investigated. However, evidence is accumulating to support the concept that SA dysfunction and inflammation may contribute to distinct asthma phenotypes. Recent findings indicate that SA are significantly affected in severe asthma and that their involvement is associated with worse disease outcomes. It has been reported that patients with asthma and a history of frequent exacerbations per year had a significant SA involvement Furthermore, peripheral airways significantly contribute not only to the level of asthma control, but also to patients' quality of life and perception of symptoms. At last more thickened SA and higher numbers of eosinophils are detectable in subjects with fatal asthma. The assessment of SA represents a big challenge and requires qualified expertise and sophisticated techniques including body plethysmography, single and multiple breath nitrogen washout, impulse oscillometry (IOS), fraction exhaled NO at multiflow, sputum induction and high-resolution chest CT (HRCT). Such procedures can either provide functional information on the degree/extent of ventilation heterogeneity and air trapping or facilitate the understanding of the inflammatory and remodeling processes. These measures are not usually part of the evaluation of asthmatic patients and in the monitoring of the effects of drugs recommended for severe asthma. Mepolizumab represents an innovative weapon for the treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma. In most of these patients the drug controls inflammation, improves lung function, ameliorates clinical symptoms, reduces exacerbations and has a marked steroid-sparing effect. However, there is still a significant proportion of non-responders and a lack of validated predictive biomarkers in such subpopulation. In regard to this, very limited findings are available about the effect of mepolizumab on SA. At the best of our knowledge, the only paper available in literature, addressing the topic, is the study of Farah and co-workers. The authors found that an early improvement in SA function was associated with better asthma control and represented a significant contributor to the therapeutic response. However, the study was conducted in a limited cohort of patients, assessing SA only through multi breath nitrogen washout, and not considering the relationship between SA disease and levels of peripheral/sputum eosinophils. Also, a study was recently initiated at the Hopitaux de Paris to evaluate airway remodelling during mepolizumab treatment (REMOMEPO, NCT03797404). A better definition of severe asthma phenotypes and endotypes, as well as the identification of novel disease targets and biomarkers to predict treatment response and monitor efficacy and safety of biological drugs over time, would favor a Precision Medicine approach translating in both improved disease management and reduced healthcare costs and social burdens. This is considered a crucial unmet need and further research in the field is strongly recommended by international guidelines, respiratory scientific societies, healthcare systems and regulatory boards.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a worldwide prevalent disease. During recent years, increasing attention has been directed to the importance of the contribution of small airways in respiratory diseases. The small airways (usually defined as those with an internal diameter of <2 mm) are recognized as the major site of resistance to airflow in obstructive lung disease. Although small airway disease is known in chronic airway diseases, the importance of small airway dysfunction on disease control, exacerbations and quality of life, and the importance of taking place among treatable targets is not clear. Therefore, our aim in the study is to determine the frequency of small airway dysfunction in COPD. Our secondary aim is to evaluate the role of small airway dysfunction in disease severity, disease phenotypes, disease control, quality of life and its effect on predicting the risk of exacerbation and its role among treatable targets in chronic airway diseases.
Asthma, which are one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality both in the world and in our country, constitute a very serious social and economic burden. An estimated 300 million people suffer from asthma worldwide, which is a major public health problem. Asthma is complex and heterogeneous chronic airway diseases that require a multifaceted approach. In asthma, small airways represent key regions of airflow obstruction. Although small airway dysfunction is known in chronic airway diseases, the importance of small airway dysfunction on disease control, exacerbations and quality of life, and the importance of taking place among treatable targets is not clear. Thus, there is an unmet need to assess its role in the control of the disease. Therefore, our primary aim in the study is to determine the frequency of small airway dysfunction measured by impulse oscillometry in Asthma patients. Our secondary aim is to evaluate the role of small airway dysfunction in disease severity, disease phenotypes, disease control, quality of life and its effect on predicting the risk of exacerbation and its role among treatable targets in Asthma.
The purpose of this study is to research the differences of small airways function between subjects with diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and asthma-COPD overlap(ACO).The assessment of quality of life is also carried out through questionnaires.
Attainment of peak healthy lung function during the 18-26 yr window is a strong determinant of the rate of lung function decline during the later years of life. The attainment of a healthy peak lung function is mediated by pre and peri natal exposures ( in utero environment and nutrition) and exposure to environmental toxicants and nutrition during childhood and early adulthood. Towards this Indian birth cohorts, having collected comprehensive data on maternal nutrition and anthropometry can provide invaluable insight into the factors affecting lung function growth and their effect sizes in the Indian population. Therefore, in this observational study, the Investigator will be collecting data on lung function, current nutritional and environmental exposures and linking it to pre and peri natal data of the same participants in order to understand lung function growth and the reasons for an early decline in the Indian population, using a life course approach.
Inuvair® is a novel fixed combination product used in the treatment of asthma and under clinical development for the treatment of COPD. Thanks to the extrafine particle size, it is able to target the whole bronchial tree, including the small airways and hence, is expected to act in these airways and it may thus be beneficial in COPD in that sense. In COPD, its action on the small airways is not directly demonstrated thus far. By way of contrast, dear evidence is present that treatment with bronchodilators alone does not beneficially alter small airway function. The study hypothesis states that the effects of inhaled corticosteroids or ICS/LABA combinations on small airway is present and can be objectivated.