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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Bronchial Thermoplasty: A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Severe Asthma
Published on: November 4, 2010
Airway irritability--a burning issue?
1The Sackler Institute of Pulmonary Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Science Division, 5th Floor Hodgkin Building, Kings College London, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom. domenico.spina@kcl.ac.uk
Abstract:
Systems biology is being increasingly used to probe the underlying pathophysiology of asthma, although serious challenges remain to decipher the physiologic significance of the information revealed in these studies relating to gene expression and regulatory gene networks often used to understand gene-gene interactions. One phenotypic change characteristic of asthma is increased airway irritability, or bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) which is still poorly understood. While the precise mechanism(s) remain(s) to be identified, a number of hypotheses have been posited to account for this phenomenon, including airways inflammation, alteration in airway smooth muscle function, and airway remodeling. However, the role of sensory nerves in this phenomenon has received scant attention yet offers a potentially new target for the development of novel drugs.
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