Over the past decade, many new insights into asthma pathophysiology have been reported in the Journal and elsewhere complemented by reports of increasingly sophisticated therapeutic approaches. Disturbingly, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to report increasing rates of asthma prevalence and incidence (http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/Asthma/).

Consequently, asthma is now the most common chronic disease of children in the United States and many other nations and is one of the most common chronic disorders of adulthood. The ineffable reality of asthma is that despite such progress on the research side, it remains a disease without a clear immune pathogenesis, prognostic tools, and certainly not even the remote possibility of a cure. Only by viewing asthma from as many different research perspectives as possible do we stand the greatest possibility of making the key unique insight or insights that are genuinely needed to improve clinical management and alter short- and long-term outcomes.

Author:William T. Shearer, David B. Corry
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