Table 1.

Asthma: molecular and clinical classification

	Symptomatology and pathophysiology	Pathobiology	Therapy response
Th2-high phenotype
Early onset  Allergic	Allergic and rhinitis symptoms Moderate to severe	Elevated levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 (Th2-related chemokines), specific IgE and thicker subepithelial basement membrane	Corticosteroid response and Th2-related targets
Late onset  Eosinophilic	Presence of sinusitis and less allergic Normally severe	Eosinophilia and IL-5 elevation (Th2-related chemokine)	Against IL-5-Ab response and to cysteinyl leukotriene modifiers. Refractory to corticosteroids
Th2-low phenotype
Obesity-related	Mostly women, very symptomatic, epithelial hyperresponsiveness	Loss of Th2-markers and oxidative stress	Response to weight loss, to antioxidants and to hormonal therapy
Late onset  Neutrophilic	Low FEV1	Sputum neutrophilia, Th17 and IL-8 ways	Refractory to corticosteroids and to other asthma medicines Possibly response to macrolide antibiotics

Modified table from Martinez et al. [9]

IL-5 interleukin 5, IL-8 interleukin 8, FEV1 forced expiratory volume in 1 s, Ab antibody