**2. Outline of the chapter**

The aim of this chapter is to illustrate the potential of electrokinetic procedures to the investigation of a variety of acute and chronic lung disorders. Why focus on pulmonary disorders? First, because lung diseases, which involve tens of million people, are some of the most common medical conditions in the world. Second, while few proteomic studies had been specifically designed to address this topic in the past, the depth of analysis ultimately reached by current procedures provides a new and larger context for future studies on the biology of these pathologies. This has allowed for the generation of protein profiles that are useful for exploring protein-based pathological mechanisms and/or discovering new potential therapeutic targets for a variety of pulmonary disorders.

Each paragraph of this chapter will address the proteomic data relative to a specific lung disease. Given that proteomic studies on pulmonary disorders have been carried out mostly on biofluids, the chapter will focus on the protein profiles obtained from serum/plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, exhaled breath condensate, sputum and urine of individuals with asthma, interstitial lung disease (ILD), cystic fibrosis (CF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other "minor" pathologies. Since different fluids may serve as a rich source of information for the same disorder, specific subsections inside each paragraph have been dedicated to the presentation of the proteomic results relative to a peculiar fluid.

Given the hugeness of the subject, proteomics of lung cancer has thoroughly been investigated and greatly acknowledged elsewhere. In keeping with this large deal of literature, this topic would require a chapter dedicated, and it was intentionally left out of this chapter.
