[Cross-talk between differentiated cells in different tissues: the example of asthma]

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disorder that leads to symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and chest tightness. Typical features of asthma are chronic airway inflammation and remodeling, leading to airway obstruction. The airway epithelium is considered as an essential controller of inflammatory, immunological and regenerative responses to allergens. Abnormal molecular crosstalk between bronchial epithelial and immune cells plays an important role in driving chronic inflammation and airway remodeling. Drugs that selectively inhibit crucial aspects of epithelial-immune or epithelial-mesenchymal interactions could potentially prevent these processes.