Exploration of Multi-Aspect Development of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment Management

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, preventable, and treatable chronic respiratory disease, which is characterized by persistent airflow limitation and respiratory symptoms. Pathological changes are mainly airway and/or alveolar structural abnormalities. Numerous factors, such as exposure to harmful particles or gases, genetic susceptibility, abnormal inflammatory responses, and abnormal lung development, are involved in the pathogenesis of COPD, those which determine the heterogeneity of COPD. Individuals show different pathophysiological changes, different disease evolution rules, and different clinical manifestations due to different etiologies, different susceptibility genes, and different chronic processes of “injury-inflammation-repair.” Therefore, disease managers need to conduct a multifaceted assessment of the whole body and the local area from the individual characteristics of COPD. With the sustained advancement of new technologies, from multiple perspectives, including genomics, exposomes, transcriptomics, mechanisms related to inflammation and immune regulation, microbiota, metabolomics, imaging features and radiomics, and the interaction of lungs and systemic organs to further explore the law of the occurrence and development of COPD, and finally, form an optimized prevention and treatment strategy. On the basis of thorough exploration, a COPD evaluation system that can meet clinical needs will be finally formed, so as to formulate scientific and effective individualized management strategies.