Pathophysiology of asthma

Airway inflammation is now believed to be an important factor in both the bronchial obstruction and airway hyper-responsiveness characteristic of asthma. Resident inflammatory cells, together with newly recruited cells, regulate the airway inflammatory process through the production of specific cytokines and inflammatory mediators. It is likely that leukocyte migration into the lungs is the result of a complex series of events. In this article, the influence of chemoattractants, cytokines, and leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion molecules is discussed in the context of asthma and allergic inflammation.