MucusHypersecretioninRespiratoryDisease

Anumberofchronicrespiratorydiseasesincludingchronicbronchitis,asthma,cysticfibrosisandbronchiectasisarecharacterizedbymucushypersecretion.Followingdamagetotheairwayepithelium,arepairprocessofdedifferentiation,regenerativeproliferationandredifferentiationtakesplacethatisinvariablyaccompaniedbymucushypersecretionasakeyelementinthehostdefencemechanism.Inchronicrespiratorydiseases,however,excessivemucusproductionleadstoapathologicalstatewithincreasedriskofinfection,hospitalizationandmorbidity.Anunderstandingofthemechanismsthatunderlieandmaintainthishypersecretoryphenotypeisthereforecrucialforthedevelopmentofrationalapproachestotherapy.Despiteahighandincreasingprevalenceandcosttohealthcareservicesandsociety,mucushypersecretioninchronicrespiratorydiseasehasreceivedlittleattentionuntilrecently,probablybecauseofthedifficultiesinherentinstudyingthispathology.Onlyinthelastfewyearshavesomeofthegenesinvolvedinmucussecretionbeencharacterized.Therecentavailabilityofgenomicsequenceinformationandspecificantibodieshasledtoanexplosionofinterestinthisareamakingthispublicationparticularlytimely.Thisbookdrawstogethercontributionsfromaninternationalandinterdisciplinarygroupofexperts,whoseworkisfocusedonbothbasicandclinicalaspectsoftheproblem.Coverageincludesepidemiology,airwaysinfectionandmucushypersecretion,thegeneticsandregulationofmucusproduction,modelsofmucushypersecretion,andtheimplicationsofnewknowledgeforthedevelopmentofnoveltherapies.