Airway smooth muscle contributes to both contractility and inflammation in the
pathophysiology of asthma and COPD. Airway smooth muscle cells can change the degree …

Asthma, a chronic disease with a prevalence of 3% to 5% in the United States, affects
millions of people worldwide. Complex genetic and environmental factors contribute to the …

Although the pathogenesis of asthma remains unclear, substantial progress has been made
over the past decades in the characterization of airway inflammation as a pathogenetic …

Chronic airway inflammation is one of the main features of asthma. Release of mediators
from infiltrating inflammatory cells in the airway mucosa has been proposed to contribute …

The airway smooth muscle cell is an active participant in the inflammatory response that
accompanies asthma. It can interact with the epithelium and inflammatory cells to produce …

It is now established that airway smooth muscle (ASM) has roles in determining airway
structure and function, well beyond that as the major contractile element. Indeed, changes in …

Recent evidence points to progressive structural change in the airway wall, driven by
chronic local inflammation, as a fundamental component for development of irreversible …

Asthma is a disease characterized, in part, by airway hyperresponsiveness and
inflammation. Although asthma typically induces reversible airway obstruction, in some …

Evidence suggests that airway smooth muscle, the most important cell modulating
bronchomotor tone, plays an important immunomodulatory role in the orchestration and …

Airway smooth muscle tone is ultimately generated by phosphorylation of myosin light chain,
which is regulated by the balance between concentrations of Ca2+ and sensitivity to Ca2+ in …