Airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation

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Abstract
Asthma has been taken as an example of a lung disease in which inflammation of the airways is present and may be a central mechanism in the pathophysiology of the disease. For obvious reasons it is difficult to study the inflammatory changes in man directly. Although there is no naturally occurring animal equivalent of asthma, animal models incorporating some features of asthma have been of help in understanding the disease, but extrapolation to man must be cautious. Many different cell types are present and evidence exists that various inflammatory mediators with relevant biological activities are also present. The relative importance of different cells and mediators, their interactions and control mechanisms, are imperfectly understood, but as specific and potent drugs-affecting mediators become available and investigational techniques are refined, a better understanding of the importance of inflammation in asthma should emerge.

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