Thomas J. Rogers • Gerard J. Criner
William D. Cornwell
Editors
2013
Basic, Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research Advances
It is clear that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic infl ammatory disease state which is the result of multiple insults to the lung, and the resulting infl ammatory response is highly complex. Studies over the last 25 years have shown that many elements of the innate and adaptive immune systems are involved, and both local and systemic infl ammatory reactions are critical participants. A full understanding of the regulation of the immune system in this disease will require a much more extensive analysis of the development of this disease at both a cellular and molecular level.