PHAR 200 Midterm: Asthma: Patho-physiology
Document Summary
Asthma is characterized by inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness (ahr), and airway obstruction. Inhaled antigens induce a type 2 t-helper cd4+ (th2) response. Antigens are taken up by antigen-presenting cells, and presentation of antigens to t-lymphocytes causes activation of the (th2) type response. This leads to b-cell production of antigen-specific immunoglobulin e (ige) as well as proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines that recruit and activate eosinophils, neutrophils, and alveolar macrophages. Classic allergic asthma is regarded as mediated by immune globulin e (ige), produced in response to exposure to foreign proteins, like those from house dust mite, cockroach, animal dander, molds, and pollens. The tendency to produce ige is at least in part genetically determined, and asthma clusters with other allergic diseases (allergic rhinitis, eczema) in family groups. Asthma is characterized by acute episodes of bronchoconstriction caused by underlying airway inflammation. Asthma typically occurs with both an early-phase response and a late-phase response (figure. Ige, which binds to mast cells in the airway mucosa.
