[Present state and future view of allergic disease--especially focusing on asthma]

In asthma as in the case of other allergic diseases, IgE plays a pivotal role by involving the immune regulation system, cytokines. The basic knowledge was successfully translated into clinic to make omalizumab, which has been beneficial in severe allergic asthma. The other discovery which may have impact on asthma management is the involvement of regulatory T cells, Th17 cells, and CD8+ cells in the pathogenesis of asthma. In airway remodeling, various cytokines have been found to be involved and among them, we believe IGF-I is one of most important factors, which could be a target of asthma treatment. Now we should reset our goal from "control" to "cure" of asthma by collaborating with basic scientists.