Antiproteases as Therapeutics to Target Inflammation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by progressive inflammation of the airways and is one of the major causes of death in the elderly. COPD leads to develop‐ ment of airflow limitation as evident by decreased forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and reduction in the percentage of FEV1/ vital capacity. Standardised spirometric tests showing the presence of airflow obstruction are used in clinical diagnosis and more recently the use of high resolution CT scanning has been employed to detect early emphysematous changes which may be present prior to severe airflow obstruction (Figure 1).