Treatment and diagnostic methods are provided for pulmonary disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Various pro-inflammatory mediators are elevated in a model of COPD that can be used predict the presence of COPD and/or subtypes of COPD in human patients. Profiles of these mediators can also predict the responsiveness of some patients to certain therapies, including thromboxane receptor antagonist treatment. Methods are provided for diagnosing a subject as a pulmonary disease candidate that include determining leukocyte expression in the subject of at least one pro-inflammatory mediator and identifying the subject as a pulmonary disease candidate when leukocyte expression in the subject of the pro-inflammatory mediator is increased compared to leukocyte expression of the pro-inflammatory mediator in a healthy individual. The pulmonary disease candidate can also be treated by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a thromboxane receptor antagonist.
