ABSTRACT
This book has addressed the phenomenology and pathophysiology of acute
and chronic lung injury, along with clinical therapies for related pulmonary
diseases. Preceding chapters have presented basic principles and current
research perspectives about lung injury, and have emphasized the impor-
tance of mechanistic understanding in evaluating current clinical therapies
and defining strategies for new therapeutic development. This final sum-
mary chapter outlines some of the implications and ramifications of cover-
age in prior chapters for on-going research on lung injury and its therapy. Also, briefly described is a research paradigm involving complementary
interactive assessments based on genomics, proteomics, systems biology,
and bioinformatics to facilitate mechanistic understanding about inflamma-
tory lung injury and aid in the development of improved therapeutic agents
and interventions.
