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 ...
A variety of proinflammatory cells, mediators, and cytokines orchestrate the development of airway hyperresponsiveness, which results in the episodic airflow obstruction characteristic of asthma. As a consequence, modulation of the underlying disease process with antii-nflammatory agents is firmly established as being the cornerstone of successful management. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most potent antiinflammatory agents available and satisfactorily suppress underlying airway inflammation in most individuals. (more…)
The cysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC 4 , LTD 4 and LTE 4 ) are lipid mediators produced from an arachidonic acid precursor following ...
Antihistamines have been shown to be effective in seasonal allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria. They improve qua ...
In the UK, Europe and the USA, montelukast is licensed for once-daily oral administration in adults and is also available as 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 ...
Nearly all tissues, organs, and serosal cavities harbor a population of resident phagocytes. Most contain only a diffuse scattering of individual phagocytic cells that remain inconspicuous under normal conditions and are very similar to one another in appearance and function. In some tissues, however, phagocytes are especially abundant or have distinctive morphologic features and are known by specific names. Examples include the Kupffer cells that line sinusoids of the liver (and account for nearly 10% of total liver mass), osteoclasts in bone, or microglial cells of the brain (Table bellow). (more…)
Once it is tethered onto the venule wall, the neutrophil or other leukocyte comes into contact with a wide variety of inflammatory ...
Neutrophils make up an army of more-or-less identical circulating phagocytes that are poised to respond quickly and in vast numbers ...
Our understanding of hematopoiesis has advanced greatly in recent years with the isolation and characterization of hematopoietic st ...
The process by which blood cells grow, divide, and differentiate in the bone marrow is called hematopoiesis. Three general cl ...
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) act as receptors for numerous stimuli of immune cells, including bacterial cell wall constituents (l ...
Once it is tethered onto the venule wall, the neutrophil or other leukocyte comes into contact with a wide variety of inflammatory mediators that may either be expressed by the activated endothelium or simply diffuse into the blood from the injured tissue. Among these mediators are a diverse subset of intermediaries known as leukocyte chemotactic factors which bind to receptors on the leukocyte surface and trigger the second, activation phase of margination. (more…)
Neutrophils make up an army of more-or-less identical circulating phagocytes that are poised to respond quickly and in vast numbers ...
Nearly all tissues, organs, and serosal cavities harbor a population of resident phagocytes. Most contain only a diffuse scattering ...
Acute inflammatory response constitute the first line of defense against infection pathogenesis and how immune system works as ...
Some of the immediate sequelae of injury are uncomfortably familiar: Soon after an injury occurs, the affected site and its sur ...
Although it is commonly imagined that hematopoiesis takes place in a liquid environment resembling the blood, with progenitors resp ...
Some of the immediate sequelae of injury are uncomfortably familiar: Soon after an injury occurs, the affected site and its surrounding tissues become reddened, warm, swollen, and painful. These four signs which are probably the most useful and ubiquitous diagnostic clues in all of clinical medicine are hallmarks of acute inflammation, the body’s initial physiologic reaction to tissue distress. In its simplest form, inflammation is a response carried out by blood vessels and by the endothelial cells that line them. (more…)
The response to injury usually begins with dilatation of small blood vessels in and around the injured site (figure bellow). Th ...
Once it is tethered onto the venule wall, the neutrophil or other leukocyte comes into contact with a wide variety of inflammatory ...
Acute inflammatory response constitute the first line of defense against infection pathogenesis and how immune system works as ...
Nearly all tissues, organs, and serosal cavities harbor a population of resident phagocytes. Most contain only a diffuse scattering ...
Innate immune responses are seen in a very broad range of tissues. Indeed, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs, one of the most important ...
Two factors thought to influence the risk factor asthma are the promoting effect of sensitization to house dust mites and the preventive effect of increased omega-3 fatty acids. Although the avoidance of house dust mites allergen has been used as a preventive strategy in several trials, the effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in the primary prevention of asthma and allergic disease is not known. (more…)
To prevent the development of allergy, allergen avoidance has to be instituted before sensitization has occurred. The specific ...
Asthma and allergic diseases are common in both children and adults. Their development depends on an interaction between asthma ...
Allergen exposure plays a role in the development of asthma bronchial hyper-responsiveness and in the acute inflammatory response ...
Exposure to allergens plays a role in the development of BHR and in the chronic inflammatory response seen in asthmatic patients. R ...
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 ...
IgE plays an important role in allergic asthma. Reducing IgE in the airway mucosa should reduce airway inflammation. Omalizumab has significant anti-inflammatory effect and reduces serum and airway IgE, but IgE or eosinophils may not be causally linked to airway bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine in mild to moderate asthma. (more…)
Treatment with omalizumab has been shown to reduce serum free IgE concentrations and to have beneficial effects on allergic airway ...
Anti-IgE therapy could be particularly beneficial for patients with concomitant asthma and rhinitis as it targets a common fact ...
Patients with severe persistent asthma who are inadequately controlled despite Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2002 step 4 ther ...
Tumour Necrosis Factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airway inflammation, hyper-react ...
Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) is a major therapeutic target in a range of chronic inflammatory disorders involving neutr ...
Classification of bronchial asthma can be based on age, etiology, associated characteristics, or severity. Classifications based on severity have been primarily designed as an approach to asthma treatment. Thus, management of mild intermittent disease may require only bronchodilator treatment, but frequent attacks with or without persistent mild symptoms require a comprehensive approach to controlling inflammation as well as bronchodilator treatment. Severe asthma can become a major clinical problem that requires specialist care and many different approaches to asthma attack treatment. (more…)
Allergic rhinitis is a high-prevalence disease. This high prevalence translates into a high cost to society in terms of overall ...
The two strongest risk factors for asthma in childhood are a family history and immediate hypersensitivity to common allergens. ...
If you have sinusitis, one of the displeasing aspects of sinusitis is dizziness condition that comes with it. Symptoms of sin ...
Asthma is a continuing problem for healthcare, particularly in the industrialized world. Some 150 million people are estimated ...
Treatment of allergic diseases in childhood presents unique challenges, as both the beneficial effects and the detrimenta ...
Leukotrienes are present in increased amounts in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with asthma. So far, no data have been reported about leukotriene levels in non-asthmatic patients with Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis. The aim of the study was to find out whether the leukotriene levels in exhaled breath condensate were increased in the non-asthmatic adult patients with Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis both during and after the pollen season in comparison with healthy controls, and to assess changes in leukotriene levels after the pollen season. Twentynine non-asthmatic adult patients with Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis and 50 healthy non-smoking controls underwent measurement of exhaled leukotrienes in the exhaled breath condensate during and after the pollen season. Spirometry, skin-prick tests and total IgE were also evaluated. (more…)
Some features seem to be common to severe asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with reversibility of airflow limita ...
A role for Leukotriene B4 in the induction of airway hyper-responsiveness was explored through the use of transgenic mice defic ...
Seasonal allergic rhinitis is stimulated by an allergic reaction of human body to pollen and spores. This is much depending on ...
Adjusting the inhaled glucocorticoid dose based on indices of airway inflammation has been proposed as a means of achieving more ef ...
Treating allergic rhinitis may have a downstream effect on concomitant asthma and this may be due to attenuation of the underlying ...