2018/09/01 by Rita Boaventura, Oriol Sibila, Alvar Agusti +2 · 1 citation
Medicine · #Cystic Fibrosis Research Advances #Respiratory viral infections research #Tracheal and airway disorders
paper · pdf · doi:10.1183/13993003.01269-2018
openalex publication_date 2018/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The diagnostic label “bronchiectasis” describes the existence of localised and permanent airway dilation, but when used to describe a disease it includes a heterogeneous group of disorders that differ significantly in terms of aetiological, clinical, radiological, functional and microbial features 1]. Using cluster analysis, some previous studies have attempted to identify distinct “clinical phenotypes” in patients with bronchiectasis [2–4 (defined as “a single or combination of disease attributes that describe differences between patients that are related to clinically meaningful outcomes” [5]). By and large, however, these studies did not consider the underlying biology or response to therapy ( i.e. the underlying endotype(s) [6]). Potential endotypes in bronchiectasis include immunodeficiency, ciliary dyskinesia, infection (with typical bacteria and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)), hypersensitivity to fungi and autoimmunity. Importantly, all of them can potentially become therapeutic targets [7]. A treatment approach based on “treatable traits” may provide better outcomes in the treatment of bronchiectasis <http://ow.ly/ywaF30l71OG>