ncRNAs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets for bronchiectasis

According to a recent statement from the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (Lung Diseases group) the effective management of chronic lung disease requires timely and accurate diagnosis. Whilst lack of access to appropriate standard diagnostics is a key barrier to the implementation of guideline-care for chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), for example, especially in low and middle income countries, the problem is global. Compared to COPD, this is even more pronounced for bronchiectasis. There is a paucity of tools to test for bronchiectasis and clearly new methods to diagnose this disease are much needed; non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) hold great potential to fulfill this role.