Navigating AATD
The primary manifestations of AATD are lung disease and liver involvement, which are irreversible and progressive.20 Therefore, the consequences of delayed or misdiagnosis can be fatal in those patients with severe AATD; most commonly due to respiratory failure (58% of deaths), including pneumonia and pneumothorax; and liver diseases (12% of deaths), including liver failure and primary carcinoma.21 This leads to a high disease burden, associated with increased mortality, morbidity, quality of life impairment and cost.21,22,23,24,25,26 Nonpharmacological approaches are crucial to managing AATD and include smoking cessation, maintaining a healthy diet and moderate exercise, staying up to date with recommended immunization and pulmonary rehabilitation.17 Currently, augmentation therapy is the only A1P1 pharmacological option available and can be part of the strategy in the management of patients with AATD-related emphysema.10,27,28 It is administered by intravenous infusion and aims to increase serum A1PI levels.2 However, the manufacturing process is complex and expensive to produce as it needs to be purified from large volumes of human plasma.29