Review

Systems biology coupled with label-free high-throughput detection as a novel approach for diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Joanna L Richens^1* , Richard A Urbanowicz^2* , Elizabeth AM Lunt¹ , Rebecca Metcalf¹ , Jonathan Corne³ , Lucy Fairclough² and Paul O'Shea¹

¹  Cell Biophysics Group, School of Biology, The University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

²  COPD Research Group, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, The University of Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK

³  Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, UK

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

Respiratory Research 2009, 10:29doi:10.1186/1465-9921-10-29

Published:	22 April 2009

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a treatable and preventable disease state, characterised by progressive airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. Although COPD is primarily a disease of the lungs there is now an appreciation that many of the manifestations of disease are outside the lung, leading to the notion that COPD is a systemic disease. Currently, diagnosis of COPD relies on largely descriptive measures to enable classification, such as symptoms and lung function. Here the limitations of existing diagnostic strategies of COPD are discussed and systems biology approaches to diagnosis that build upon current molecular knowledge of the disease are described. These approaches rely on new 'label-free' sensing technologies, such as high-throughput surface plasmon resonance (SPR), that we also describe.