La dysfonction musculaire dans la BPCO : quels mécanismes retenir en 2014 ?

Muscular dysfunction has a real impact on exercise tolerance and health-related quality of life in patients with COPD. It is also a comorbidity by itself and a negative prognostic factor with varied mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is the altered balance between protein synthesis and degradation in the muscular fiber, modulated by the oxidative stress. There is also a heterogeneity between COPD patients, with phenotypes characterized by muscular atrophy and augmented oxidative stress. Oxidant/anti-oxidant balance is altered in about 90% of COPD patients. Most of the recent research programs using cellular models are aimed to identify other mechanisms of muscular dysfunction in COPD and potential new therapeutic targets.