• Anuradha Ray, Timothy B Oriss, and Sally E Wenzel.
• University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 2015 Jan 15; 308 (2): L130-40.

AbstractAlthough asthma has long been considered a heterogeneous disease, attempts to define subgroups of asthma have been limited. In recent years, both clinical and statistical approaches have been utilized to better merge clinical characteristics, biology, and genetics. These combined characteristics have been used to define phenotypes of asthma, the observable characteristics of a patient determined by the interaction of genes and environment. Identification of consistent clinical phenotypes has now been reported across studies. Now the addition of various 'omics and identification of specific molecular pathways have moved the concept of clinical phenotypes toward the concept of molecular phenotypes. The importance of these molecular phenotypes is being confirmed through the integration of molecularly targeted biological therapies. Thus the global term asthma is poised to become obsolete, being replaced by terms that more specifically identify the pathology associated with the disease.Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

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