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 ...
Treg cells or regulatory T cells constitute a large population of cellular infiltrate in atopic/allergic inflammation and a dysregulated immune response appears to be an important pathogenetic factor. Cardinal events during allergic inflammation can be classified as activation, organ-selective homing, survival and reactivation, and effector functions of immune system cells. T cells are activated by aeroallergens, food antigens, autoantigens, and bacterial exotoxins superantigens in allergic inflammation. They are under the influence of the skin, lung, or nose-related chemokine network and show organ-selective homing. (more…)
Allergen-specific immunotherapy is highly effective in the treatment of IgE-mediated allergy diseases such as rhinitis, conjunc ...
The induction of immune tolerance and specific immune suppression are essential processes in the control of immune responses. R ...
The intracellular forkhead winged transcription factor Foxp3 (forkhead box P3) appears to be specifically expressed by naturall ...
An emerging concept is that pro-inflammatory signals lead to loss of Regulatory T Cells (Treg) function. Pasare and Medzhitov ( ...
Regulatory T cells Treg (picture above) is the existence of suppressor cells, which limit ongoing immune responses and prevent ...
Tumour Necrosis Factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airway inflammation, hyper-reactivity and remodelling. The primary aim of the trial was to assess whether TNF antagonism, using a soluble Tumour Necrosis Factor receptor (TNFR:Fc etanercept, Enbrel ® ), can attenuate eosinophilic airway inflammation in patients with mild to moderate allergic asthma. (more…)
Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) is a major therapeutic target in a range of chronic inflammatory disorders involving neutr ...
Marimastat is a synthetic broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor. This study assessed the anti-inflammatory effect ...
Roflumilast is an oral, once-daily inhibitor of phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) that prevents the breakdown of cyclic adenosine ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Allergen exposure plays a role in the development of asthma bronchial hyper-responsiveness and in the acute inflammatory response seen in asthmatic patients. Reduction of house dust mite allergens might lead to better lung function and reduction of asthma symptoms. (more…)
Exposure to allergens plays a role in the development of BHR and in the chronic inflammatory response seen in asthmatic patients. R ...
To prevent the development of allergy, allergen avoidance has to be instituted before sensitization has occurred. The specific ...
Two factors thought to influence the risk factor asthma are the promoting effect of sensitization to house dust mites and the preve ...
Asthma and allergic diseases are common in both children and adults. Their development depends on an interaction between asthma ...
Avoidance of any one of the individual risk factors associated with childhood asthma has not been successful in preventing its deve ...
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has been found to exert a range of angiogenic actions, including epithelial cell proliferation, blood vessel formation and endothelial cell survival. Elevated levels of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor have been detected in bronchial tissues and secretions of asthmatic bronchial individuals, raising questions regarding its possible pathogenetic role in asthma. Using transgenic mice in which local over expression of VEGF could be induced in the lungs by administration of a tetracycline antibiotic demonstrated induction of an asthma-like phenotype with airway inflammation and oedema, hyper-responsiveness and remodelling (airway, parenchymal and vascular). Antigen-induced airway inflammation was accompanied by VEGF production by epithelial cells and TH2 cells, with production by Th1 cells markedly lower. (more…)
Local micro environmental factors are crucial in determining both susceptibility to vascular remodeling and the extent of angio ...
The airway circulation has many potential roles in asthma. The vasculature has a major influence on upper airway patency in nasal i ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement ...
Airway remodelling is considered to be of major importance in the pathology of asthma, with subepithelial basement membrane thi ...
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important ...
Airway hyper-responsiveness in asthma may involve smooth muscle growth, a manifestation of airway remodelling. The involvement of inflammatory cells in the induction of airway smooth muscle growth was studied in vivo and ex vivo in a brown Norway rat model of asthma. Transfer of CD4 + T lymphocytes from ovalbuminsensitized animals induced an increase in airway smooth muscle mass in naive animals upon repeated ovalbumin challenge. Ex vivo, coculture of antigen-stimulated CD4 + T cells and airway smooth muscle cells led to myocyte proliferation and prolonged T-cell survival. (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (l ...
A role for Leukotriene B4 in the induction of airway hyper-responsiveness was explored through the use of transgenic mice defic ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has ...
Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been ...
The two strongest risk factors for asthma in childhood are a family history and immediate hypersensitivity to common allergens. This immune response includes both IgE antibodies and helper T cells type 2 (Th2), both of which are thought to contribute to the inflammation in the respiratory tract. Children with asthma who mount an immune response to inhalant allergens have an increased risk of developing asthma because of this combination of genetics and exposure. However, it is sensitization to indoor allergens (e.g. dust mites, cats, dogs, and cockroaches) that is strongly associated with asthma. (more…)
Exposure and allergic sensitization to cockroach was associated with a significantly greater risk of asthma hospitalization and ...
There is much controversy as to the role of allergen exposure for the development of atopic sensitization towards this allergen. Wh ...
Classification of bronchial asthma can be based on age, etiology, associated characteristics, or severity. Classifications base ...
Sensitization to pets remains a risk factor for asthma and rhinitis, and can occur in people who have never lived with a pet. S ...
This population-based cross-sectional study, funded by a UK government agency, aimed to establish the rate of sensitization to food ...
Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory nasal disorder in which a range of different cells participate. A variety of approaches has been used to monitor nasal inflammation objectively to investigate disease processes and to evaluate the effect of therapeutic intervention. These approaches include nasal lavage, nasal cytology and nasal biopsy, together with the more recently established measurement of nasal nitric oxide (NO) concentration. Although all provide information about nasal mucosal inflammation, the extent of information that can be obtained by each approach, the ease of sampling, and the complexity of sample handling differ. (more…)
After nasal allergen challenge, substance P and CGRP are released into nasal secretions of atopic patients . In allergic rhinit ...
Treatment with omalizumab has been shown to reduce serum free IgE concentrations and to have beneficial effects on allergic airway ...
This method of Acoustic Rhinometry is performed by doing the cross-sectional areas of the nasal measures by sending a sound pulse t ...
Non-allergic rhinitis is defined by the absence of positive SPTs or radioallergosorbent test (RAST) to common allergens. Ideall ...
Leukotrienes are present in increased amounts in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with asthma. So far, no data have ...
Local micro environmental factors are crucial in determining both susceptibility to vascular remodeling and the extent of angiogenesis. Major exogenous triggers of airway inflammation in asthma include viruses and inhaled aeroallergens, both of which are known to be associated with the production of angiogenic factors . These stimuli elicit reciprocal immune responses, through elaboration of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. (more…)
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), originally described as a vascular permeability factor generating tissue oedema, has be ...
The airway circulation has many potential roles in asthma. The vasculature has a major influence on upper airway patency in nasal i ...
Exacerbations of asthma are frequently associated with rhinoviral infection. Rhinoviruses infect respiratory epithelial cells, ...
While our primary concern is the impact that the innate immune system has on allergic disease, it is essential to recognize that al ...
Eosinophil infiltration of the mucosa is a feature of asthmatic airways. Their adhesion to bronchial epithelial cells has been ...
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important series of innate immune response proteins, described in detail below) are probably represented at some level in every cell in the body. Even before such systems are engaged, however, other levels of defense have important roles in mediating successful immunity. (more…)
Innate immunity depends on both resident and recruited leukocytes. The macrophage without doubt plays an import- ant role in the de ...
While our primary concern is the impact that the innate immune system has on allergic disease, it is essential to recognize that al ...
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 ...
An especially elaborate and important type of innate antimicrobial enzymes defense is provided by a group of serum proteins tha ...