ABSTRACT
Gene therapy for pulmonary disease, a field still in the experimental stage, has nonetheless progressed considerably in the past decade. There have been significant advances in preclinical studies, as well as important developments resulting from multiple early-phase human clinical trials for a variety of respiratory disorders (reviewed in Ref. I). Although there are several ways of delivering therapeutic genes to the lungs, the primary delivery modality remains flexible bronchoscopy. This chapter will describe the various methods and disease targets of bronchoscopic-mediated gene therapy, focusing in particular on the results of clinical studies, and providing a glimpse into the future of the field.
