Future concepts in bronchodilation for COPD: dual- versus monotherapy

Pulmonary rehabilitation and physical interventions

Pulmonary rehabilitation has established a status of evidence-based therapy for patients with symptomatic COPD in the stable phase and after acute exacerbations. Rehabilitation should have the possibility of including different disciplines and be offered in several formats and lines of healthcare. This review focusses on the cornerstone intervention, exercise training, and how training interventions can be adapted to the limitations of patients. These adaptations may lead to altered cardiovascular or muscular training effects and/or may improve movement efficiency. Optimising pharmacotherapy (not the focus of this review) and oxygen supplements, whole-body low- and high-intensity training or interval training, and resistance (or neuromuscular electrical stimulation) training are important training modalities for these patients in order to accommodate cardiovascular and ventilatory impairments. Inspiratory muscle training and whole-body vibration may also be worthwhile interventions in selected patients. Patients with stable but symptomatic COPD, those who have suffered exacerbations and patients waiting for or who have received lung volume reduction or lung transplantation are good candidates. The future surely holds promise to further personalise exercise training interventions and to tailor the format of rehabilitation to the individual patient's needs and preferences.

Differential Response to 12 Weeks of Once-Daily Tiotropium/Olodaterol Fixed Dose Combination in Patients with COPD: A Multidimensional Response Profiling in the TORRACTO Study

Purpose

Long-acting bronchodilators (LABD), in general, reduce respiratory symptoms, improve exercise endurance time and pulmonary function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, there might be heterogeneity in improvement for several outcomes on an individual level. Therefore, we aimed to profile the multidimensional response in patients receiving tiotropium/olodaterol (T/O) using self-organizing maps (SOM).

Materials and Methods

This is a secondary analysis of the TORRACTO study: a multicenter, multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial to evaluate the effects of T/O (2.5/5 and 5/5 μg) compared with placebo after 6 and 12 weeks of treatment in patients with COPD. In the current study, we used endurance time, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), inspiratory capacity (IC) at rest and IC at isotime (ICiso) to identify clusters by means of SOM in patients treated with T/O.

Results

Six clusters with distinct response profiles were generated at week 12 in COPD patients receiving T/O (n = 268). Patients in cluster 1 improved significantly on all outcomes, whilst cluster 5 showed strong improvement in endurance time (357s); contrarily, FEV1, FVC, ICrest and ICiso decreased when compared to baseline.

Conclusion

Individual responses on endurance time and pulmonary function after 12 weeks of T/O are heterogeneous. This study identified clusters in COPD patients with markedly different multidimensional response on LABD.

Ultrasound assessment of diaphragmatic dynamics in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after treatment with indacaterol/glycopyrronium

INTRODUCTION

Air trapping is one of the main determinants of dyspnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). An increase in air trapping leads to a change in the normal diaphragmatic configuration with associated functional impairment. Said deterioration improves with bronchodilator therapy. Chest ultrasound (CU) has been used to assess changes in diaphragmatic motility after short-acting bronchodilator therapy, but there are no previous studies on these changes after long-acting bronchodilator treatment.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Interventional prospective study. Patients with COPD and moderate to very severe ventilatory obstruction were included in the study. Diaphragm motion and thickness were assessed by CU before and after 3 months of treatment with indacaterol/glycopirronium 85/43 mcg.

RESULTS

Thirty patients were included (56.6% men, mean age: 69.4 ± 6.2 years). Pre- and post-treatment diaphragmatic mobility measured during resting breathing, deep breathing, and nasal sniffing were 19.9 ± 7.1 mm and 26.4 ± 8.7 mm (p < 0.0001); 42.5 ± 14.1 mm and 64.5 ± 25.9 mm (p < 0.0001); and 36.5 ± 17.4 mm and 46.7 ± 18.5 mm (p = 0.012), respectively. A significant improvement was also found in the minimum and maximum diaphragm thickness (p < 0.05), but there were no significant changes in the diaphragmatic shortening fraction after treatment (p = 0.341).

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment with indacaterol/glycopyrronium 85/43 mcg every 24 hours for 3 months improved diaphragmatic mobility in patients with COPD with moderate to very severe airway obstruction. CU may be useful for assessing the response to treatment in these patients.

Circadian clock-based therapeutics in chronic pulmonary diseases

The circadian clock is the biochemical oscillator that orchestrates the observable circadian rhythms in physiology and behavior. Disruption of the circadian clock in the lungs during chronic pulmonary diseases is considered one of the key etiological risk factors that drive pathobiology. Preclinical studies support that pharmacological manipulation of the circadian clock is a conceivable approach for the development of novel clock-based therapeutics. Despite recent advances, no effort has been undertaken to integrate novel findings for the treatment and management of chronic lung diseases. We, therefore, recognize the need to discuss the candidate clock genes that can be potentially targeted for therapeutic intervention. Here, we aim to create the first roadmap that will advance the development of circadian- clock-based therapeutics that may provide better outcomes in treating chronic pulmonary diseases.

Bronchodilators in Tobacco-Exposed Persons with Symptoms and Preserved Lung Function

BACKGROUND

Many persons with a history of smoking tobacco have clinically significant respiratory symptoms despite an absence of airflow obstruction as assessed by spirometry. They are often treated with medications for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but supporting evidence for this treatment is lacking.

METHODS

We randomly assigned persons who had a tobacco-smoking history of at least 10 pack-years, respiratory symptoms as defined by a COPD Assessment Test score of at least 10 (scores range from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating worse symptoms), and preserved lung function on spirometry (ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] to forced vital capacity [FVC] ≥0.70 and FVC ≥70% of the predicted value after bronchodilator use) to receive either indacaterol (27.5 μg) plus glycopyrrolate (15.6 μg) or placebo twice daily for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was at least a 4-point decrease (i.e., improvement) in the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating worse health status) after 12 weeks without treatment failure (defined as an increase in lower respiratory symptoms treated with a long-acting inhaled bronchodilator, glucocorticoid, or antibiotic agent).

RESULTS

A total of 535 participants underwent randomization. In the modified intention-to-treat population (471 participants), 128 of 227 participants (56.4%) in the treatment group and 144 of 244 (59.0%) in the placebo group had at least a 4-point decrease in the SGRQ score (difference, -2.6 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -11.6 to 6.3; adjusted odds ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.37; P = 0.65). The mean change in the percent of predicted FEV1 was 2.48 percentage points (95% CI, 1.49 to 3.47) in the treatment group and -0.09 percentage points (95% CI, -1.06 to 0.89) in the placebo group, and the mean change in the inspiratory capacity was 0.12 liters (95% CI, 0.07 to 0.18) in the treatment group and 0.02 liters (95% CI, -0.03 to 0.08) in the placebo group. Four serious adverse events occurred in the treatment group, and 11 occurred in the placebo group; none were deemed potentially related to the treatment or placebo.

CONCLUSIONS

Inhaled dual bronchodilator therapy did not decrease respiratory symptoms in symptomatic, tobacco-exposed persons with preserved lung function as assessed by spirometry. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; RETHINC ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02867761.).