Provided herein are methods and compositions relating, in part, to the generation of human progenitor cells committed to the lung lineage and uses of such cells for treatment of lung diseases/disorders or injury to the lung. Whether an adult stem cell can be isolated from human adult lung remains controversial in the art and at present, methods for isolating and using adult lung stem cells from humans lack reproducibility. Thus, the methods and compositions described herein are advantageous over the present state of knowledge in the art and permit the generation of human lung progenitor cells for treatment, tissue engineering, and screening assays.

In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic complement-mediated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a Th17-associated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic respiratory system disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of administering a complement inhibitor to a subject. In some embodiments, a method of treating a subject comprises administering multiple doses of a complement inhibitor to the subject according to a dosing schedule that leverages the prolonged effect of complement inhibition in chronic respiratory disorders. In some embodiments, a subject has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In some embodiments, a subject has asthma.

Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease of various origins that is associated with vascular remodelling and results in right heart dysfunction. Accumulating evidence indicates important roles of immune cells and inflammatory chemokines in the pathogenesis and progression of pulmonary hypertension. We have identified CCL21 as anti-remodelling efficacy biomarker for pulmonary hypertension. CCL21 was found to be highly sensitive and specific in discriminating pulmonary hypertension patients from matched controls. CCL21 was upregulated in pulmonary hypertension and down-regulated with treatment with an anti-remodelling agent.

Provided herein are methods and compositions relating, in part, to the generation of human progenitor cells committed to the lung lineage and uses of such cells for treatment of lung diseases/disorders or injury to the lung. Whether an adult stem cell can be isolated from human adult lung remains controversial in the art and at present, methods for isolating and using adult lung stem cells from humans lack reproducibility. Thus, the methods and compositions described herein are advantageous over the present state of knowledge in the art and permit the generation of human lung progenitor cells for treatment, tissue engineering, and screening assays.

Methods of diagnosing and treating disorders related to TH2 inhibition, including but not limited to asthma, are provided. Also provided are methods of selecting or identifying patients for treatment with certain therapeutic agents that are TH2 pathway inhibitors.

This invention concerns methods for monitoring the development of and for treatment of ARDS in a patient. The method for monitoring the development of ARDS is based on comparing the level or activity of the biomarkers obtained in a sample drawn at a later point of time to the levels or activities of the same biomarkers in a sample drawn at a previous point of time. A favorable change in the level or activity of a certain biomarker represents a regression of the disease (recovery of the patient), and, conversely, an adverse change in the level or activity of a certain biomarker represents a worsening of the disease. If, for example, the level or activity for one or more of the biomarkers monitored discontinues to show a favorable change or starts to show an unfavorable change, the treatment of the patient is enhanced by administering a therapeutically active agent useful in the treatment of ARDS. The invention concerns further a method for simultaneous determination of a multiple of biomarkers in a sample from a patient, wherein said biomarkers are related to ARDS. The level or the activity of the biomarkers is determined. The invention also concerns a diagnostic kit useful for carrying out the method, particularly a kit comprising a chip, such as a microarray suitable for use in biochip technology.

The invention described herein relates to methods of treating emphysema and COPD with a GHK tripeptide. The invention further relates to methods of determining the state of the lungs using biomarkers described herein.

The present invention relates to a method for treating pulmonary alveolar proteinosis related to MARS gene mutations in a subject in need thereof comprising a step of administering said subject with a therapeutically effective amount of supplementation of methionine and/or its derivatives. Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis related to mutations in the gene encoding the methionine tRNA synthetase is a severe, early-onset lung disease that also associates liver involvement, failure to thrive, and systemic inflammation. Inventors describe an infant affected by this disease who was successfully treated by oral methionine supplementation. After three months of treatment she was free of respiratory symptoms, inflammation and cholestasis resolved, and there was a catchup in growth. Her bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was free of extracellular lipoproteinaceous material. Functional assays on peripheral monocytes, initially altered, normalized. This study paves the way for similar strategies in other tRNA synthetase deficiencies.

The preset invention relates to a method for predicting the disease outcome and/or prognosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using a variant of surfactant protein D (SP-D) as a biomarker, which is the G-G-C-C-A haplotype of SP-D.

The present invention is directed toward novel methods to treat subjects having severe and/or persistent asthma.