Asthma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Asthma, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, medications.

Allergen-induced airway remodelling.

Lloyd CM, Robinson DS

Leukocyte Biology Section, National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. c.lloyd@imperial.ac.uk

Airway remodelling is associated with chronic asthma but it remains unclear whether it results from airway inflammation in response to allergens or immune-mediated events such as viral infections. Although the acute inflammation associated with asthma has been modelled extensively both in vitro and in vivo, the structural changes occurring in the lung have only recently been investigated. These in vitro, in vivo and in silico systems have been designed to examine the pathways leading to allergen-induced airway remodelling and have enabled investigators to draw conclusions about the participation of key cells and molecules in the development of allergen-induced airway remodelling. However, fundamental questions remain regarding the genesis of remodelling as well as the relationship between functional symptoms and pathological changes that occur. In this review the key questions relating allergen exposure to development of remodelling are discussed, as well as the steps that are being undertaken to investigate them.

Published 1 May 2007 in Eur Respir J, 29(5): 1020-32.
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