Fig. 1

Potential targets for anti-inflammatory therapy The inflammatory process in COPD is associated with cardiovascular disease and lung cancer and is a potential therapeutic target to reduce these comorbidities. In additional to broad spectrum therapies such as corticosteroids specific anitinflammatory therapies could be directed towards a the primary factors driving inflammation in COPD, b intracellular signaling pathways including NF-κβ and STAT3 e.g. by tyrosine kinase inhibitors, c inhibition of specific inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins (IL) 1 and 6 and the generation of d reactive oxygen species (ROS) and e proteases such as neutrophil elastase (NE) and matrix metalloproteinases 9 and 12 (MMP9/12).