Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious public health concern worldwide. By 2040, 4.41 million people are estimated to expire annually due to COPD. However, till date, it has remained difficult to alter the activity or progress of the disease through treatment. In order to address this issue, the best way would be to find biomarkers and new therapeutic targets for COPD. DNA methylation (DNAm) may be a potential biomarker for disease prevention, diagnosis, and prognosis, and its reversibility further makes it a potential drug design target in COPD. In this review, we aimed to explore the role of DNAm as biomarkers and disease mediators in different tissue samples from patients with COPD.
Highlights
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic progressive disease (Rabe and Watz, 2017)
We focused on the role of DNA methylation (DNAm) as biomarkers and disease mediators in different tissue samples from patients with COPD
DNAm is obviously a potential biomarker for disease prevention, diagnosis, and prognosis. It has been widely considered as a biomarker and drug design target in COPD
Summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic progressive disease (Rabe and Watz, 2017). Its pathological features mainly include irreversible airway obstruction, mucus secretion, and inflammation (Celli and MacNee, 2004). Fifty years ago, it had prompted the establishment of the Department of Pulmonary Diseases. The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS) had estimated ∼299 million patients to have COPD, worldwide, in 2017 (GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators, 2018). The above data, does not include the patients with COPD who died of cardiovascular disease (Calverley et al, 2007), and those with some cardiovascular diseases along with airflow restriction (Franssen et al, 2016). The best way to solve this problem would be to explore the biomarkers of COPD and identify new therapeutic targets
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