Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (lipopolysaccharide [LPS] from Gram-negative bacteria and lipopeptides from Gram-positive species), plasma proteins and extracellular matrix breakdown products. TLR2 and TLR4 bind lipopeptide and LPS respectively, mediating responses of alveolar macrophages and other immune cells to bacterial infection in the lungs. Exposure of lungs to LPS leads to pro-inflammatory responses of a number of cell types, including airway smooth muscle, which secretes a number of cytokines involved in leucocyte recruitment and the Th2 polarization of immune responses. Human airway smooth muscle cells were cultured with LPS in the absence and presence of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to determine direct and leucocyte-dependent TLR-mediated responses. (more…)
One especially favored target for immune recognition is bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This macromolecule is found only in ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
Innate immunity depends on both resident and recruited leukocytes. The macrophage without doubt plays an import- ant role in the de ...
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter of the nerve vagus, the functional effects mediated by binding to muscarinic receptors. Results ...
Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been ...
Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been proposed to lead to the generation of inflammation mediators which may contribute to asthma pathology. Bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B cell line) and peripheral blood eosinophils were cultured alone or in combination and the production of an inflammatory cytokine, IL-6, was measured. IL-6 was produced principally by epithelial cells and the production was enhanced more than 10-fold in the presence of eosinophils. Significant augmentation of epithelial IL-6 production persisted even when eosinophils were fixed with paraformaldehyde. The eosinophil-induced IL-6 production was extensively inhibited by inhibitors of p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase or nuclear factor ??B (NF??B). (more…)
Exacerbations of asthma are frequently associated with rhinoviral infection. Rhinoviruses infect respiratory epithelial cells, ...
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (l ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
Contact of pathogens with the innate immune system will most frequently occur at epithelia, and the biology of the airway epitheliu ...
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
The prevalence of aspirin-sensitive asthma is uncertain although it may exist in up to 20% of all asthmatics patients. The characteristic features include profound bronchoconstriction asthma following aspirin ingestion, rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps, and abdominal cramps. Aspirin and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs selectively inhibit COX-1, which in turn shunts arachidonic acid down the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein pathway, causing overproduction of cysteinyl leukotrienes. As a consequence, elevated levels of cysteinyl leukotrienes can be found in bronchial asthma and nasal aspirates, and in urine following aspirin challenge. (more…)
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) as one of the popular pain reliever is among regular aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil a ...
Leukotrienes can be found in the airway and urine following both spontaneous exacerbations of asthma and acute exposure to bron ...
Despite optimum drug delivery and good compliance with inhaled corticosteroids, many patients experience symptoms and exacerbat ...
The cross-sensitivity between aspirin and Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs in patients who manifest pseudo-allergic reacti ...
Current internationally recognized guidelines indicate that symptomatic asthmatics using a low to medium inhaled corticosteroid ...
Airway remodelling is considered to be of major importance in the pathology of asthma, with subepithelial basement membrane thickening in particular being indicative of early development of the disease and characteristic of its progression. Airway fibroblasts are central cells in the processes of remodelling: increased deposition of fibroblast-derived connective tissue proteins and differentiation of fibroblasts into contractile myofibroblasts are consistent observations in morphological studies of moderate to severe asthmatic airways. The secretory function of fibroblasts is under the control of locally produced growth factors such as vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF, see below) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Local micro environmental factors are crucial in determining both susceptibility to vascular remodeling and the extent of angio ...
Tumour Necrosis Factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airway inflammation, hyper-react ...
Asthma is a continuing problem for healthcare, particularly in the industrialized world. Some 150 million people are estimated ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
A role for Leukotriene B4 in the induction of airway hyper-responsiveness was explored through the use of transgenic mice deficient in the BLT1 receptor for LTB4 . Ovalbumin challenge of sensitized wild-type mice resulted in the usual features of experimental asthma, including goblet cell hyperplasia, hyper-responsiveness to inhaled methacholine and elevated BAL fluid concentrations of the Th2 cytokine IL-13. In contrast, BLT1 –/– mice (i.e. genetically modified mice lacking the gene coding for the BLT1 receptor) exhibited significantly lower responses. BLT1 –/– mice also exhibited lower numbers of IL-13-positive T lymphocytes of both the helper (CD4 T Cells) and cytotoxic/suppressor (CD8 + ) types. (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Some features seem to be common to severe asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with reversibility of airflow limita ...
Antihistamines have been shown to be effective in seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria. They improve qua ...
Current internationally recognized guidelines indicate that symptomatic asthmatics using a low to medium inhaled corticosteroid dose (400–800 µg/day of beclomethasone or equivalent) alone should preferentially be commenced on a long-acting agonist ß2 prior to an leukotriene receptor antagonists LTRA (British guideline on the management of asthma 2003; GINA Workshop Report 2004). However, two recent large trials have performed head to-head comparisons of add-on long-acting ß2 agonist versus LTRA as therapeutic adjuncts to inhaled corticosteroids, using exacerbation frequency (rather than lung function and symptoms) as the primary end point. (more…)
Leukotrienes can be found in the airway and urine following both spontaneous exacerbations of asthma and acute exposure to bron ...
Despite optimum drug delivery and good compliance with inhaled corticosteroids, many patients experience symptoms and exacerbat ...
Two long-acting ß 2 -adrenergic agonists (LABAs), salmeterol and formoterol, have been demonstrated to be safe and effective ag ...
Treating allergic rhinitis may have a downstream effect on concomitant asthma and this may be due to attenuation of the underlying ...
Regular use of ß-agonists has been known to lead to tolerance to their bronchodilator effects. It is not known how quickly toleranc ...
Despite optimum drug delivery and good compliance with inhaled corticosteroids, many patients experience symptoms and exacerbations. Dose–response studies using inhaled corticosteroids have generally been unable to demonstrate any significant difference between individual doses of inhaled corticosteroids. For example, a metaanalysis evaluated eight studies (2324 asthmatics) where the effects of at least two doses of inhaled fluticasone were measured. (more…)
Current internationally recognized guidelines indicate that symptomatic asthmatics using a low to medium inhaled corticosteroid ...
Leukotrienes can be found in the airway and urine following both spontaneous exacerbations of asthma and acute exposure to bron ...
Treating allergic rhinitis may have a downstream effect on concomitant asthma and this may be due to attenuation of the underlying ...
The guidelines for asthma management recommend the use of regular inhaled corticosteroid in patients with mild persistent asthma, b ...
This study was similar to the study of Harrison and colleagues, which looked at doubling the dose of inhaled corticosteroid dur ...
Negative family characteristics such as family conflict and family dysfunction discriminated children who died of asthma from children with equally severe asthma who did not die. Parenting difficulties have been associated with a higher risk for the development of asthma early in life. In addition, children with the highest risk of developing early-onset asthma were those in families with both parenting problems and high stress. Evidence for a asthma and stress link has been demonstrated through temporal studies, as experiencing an acute negative life event increased children’s risk for an asthma attack 4 to 6 weeks after the occurrence of the event. (more…)
Learning to relax is important not only to release tension or stress but can ease your sinus and help you to copy with it. True rel ...
The two strongest risk factors for asthma in childhood are a family history and immediate hypersensitivity to common allergens. ...
Asthma is a frightening condition. I have lived with asthma symptoms for 17 years and the thought of an allergy induced asthma atta ...
Acupuncture for acne, psoriasis, allergies and related conditions is the current interest of several study groups, to investigate a ...
The genetic basis of asthma heritability has been extensively studied and the studies are yielding some understanding. There is ...
Two main strategies have been developed to block the effects of cysteinyl leukotrienes in the airway. One method is to use drugs that prevent their synthesis (using a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor) and the other involves interfering with the binding of cysteinyl leukotrienes to their cellular receptor using a leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA). (more…)
Leukotrienes can be found in the airway and urine following both spontaneous exacerbations of asthma and acute exposure to bron ...
Antihistamines have been shown to be effective in seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria. They improve qua ...
The cysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC 4 , LTD 4 and LTE 4 ) are lipid mediators produced from an arachidonic acid precursor following ...
A variety of proinflammatory cells, mediators, and cytokines orchestrate the development of airway hyperresponsiveness, which r ...
The prevalence of aspirin-sensitive asthma is uncertain although it may exist in up to 20% of all asthmatics patients. The char ...
Histamine is a low-molecular-weight monoamine that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors, and has recently been demonstrated to regulate several essential events in the immune response. The histamine receptor type 2 (HR2) is coupled to adenylate cyclase and studies in different species and several human cells have demonstrated that inhibition of characteristic features of the cells by primarily cAMP formation dominates in HR2-dependent effects of histamine. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
The precise mechanisms underlying the effects of Specific Immunotherapy are not well understood but several studies have shown ...
The specific treatment of allergy has previously relied upon allergen avoidance and sublingual immunotherapy. These approaches have ...
Allergen-specific immunotherapy aims to correct the underlying immune imbalance associated with specific immunotherapy allergic rhi ...
The immunologic mechanisms of sublingual immunotherapy are less established. In Cochrane analysis, the authors concluded that t ...