ABSTRACT
While hypotheses and mechanisms of lung function in
culture, ultimately, these ideas need to be tested in mammals, to dissect the complex pathophysiology. Indeed, animal studies have been critical in shaping contemporary views regarding the pathogenesis of lung diseases for many years. The advent of genetic engineering, knowledge of genomic sequences in many mouse strains, and new techniques to interrogate the entire genome, combined with improved imaging of small animals, all have combined to provide unprecedented opportunity to determine the genetic and environmental influences and pathways leading to lung disease. Thus, animal models combined with genomic physiology provide a critical step in testing hypotheses and pathways determined from classical cell and molecular biology on the way toward translation to the treatment of human disease. A multidisciplinary approach, combining human genetics with genetics and genomic physiology in mice, integrated with proteomics and expression profiling, and supported by bioinformatics, provides a model for understanding and treating human disease (Fig. 7.3).
