Heterogeneity in Asthma

Bruce A Luxon, Bruce A. Luxon, Luxon, Bruce A.

Asthma and airway inflammation are responses to infectious stimuli and the mechanisms of how they are mediated, whether by the innate or adaptive immune response systems, are complex and results in a broad spectrum of possible metabolic products. In principle, a syndrome such as asthma should have a characteristic temporal-spatial metabolic signature indicative of its current state and the constituents that caused it. Generally, the term metabolomics refers to the quantitative analysis of sets of small compounds from biological samples with molecular masses less than 1 kDa so unambiguous identification can be difficult and usually requires sophisticated instrumentation. The practical success of clinical metabolomics will largely hinge on a few key issues such as the ability to capture a readily available biofluid that can be analyzed to identify metabolite biomarkers with the required sensitivity and specificity in a cost-effective manner in a clinical setting. In this chapter, we review the current state of the metabolomics of asthma and airway inflammation with a focus on the different methods and instrumentation being used for the discovery of biomarkers in research and their future translation into the clinic as diagnostic aids for the choice of patient-specific therapies.