Biomarkers of Severe Asthma: From Pathogenetic Mechanisms to Clinical Application

Dear Colleagues,

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by variable symptoms of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, cough, and variable expiratory airflow limitation. It is usually associated with airway hyper-responsiveness and chronic inflammation of the airways. Although most patients achieve good symptom control using drugs such as inhaled corticosteroids and bronchodilators, there is a percentage of patients who, despite optimized treatments, do not reach a satisfactory clinical control, requiring the use of additional resources both in terms of direct and indirect costs.

In recent years, the deepening of knowledge on the etiopathogenetic mechanisms underlying the different phenotypes and endotypes of asthma has led to the possibility of developing extremely refined pharmacological treatments that are capable of intercepting specific molecular inflammatory pathways, with the potential aim of modifying the natural history of the disease. Most of these drugs are currently available for the treatment of the type 2 asthma endotype; however, drugs that target the so-called alarmins have very recently been developed, and act upstream of the type 2 inflammatory cascade. The ability of these drugs to substantially change the daily lives of patients who use them has allowed clinicians to identify the best outcomes capable of quantifying the degree of response to these treatments. Among the response parameters, the concentration of specific biomarkers has been included to predict asthma outcomes and therapeutic response to targeted therapies.

In recent years, significant research has been realized in the identification of valid biomarkers for asthma. This Special Issue focuses on the existent and emerging biomarkers with clinical higher applicability in the management of asthma.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Vatrella
Guest Editor

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