Understanding the Association of Human Rhinovirus with Asthma

Human rhinoviruses are ubiquitous seasonal pathogens. They have known associations with first onset of wheezing illnesses in children and with asthma exacerbations in patients of all ages. It is not yet certain whether human rhinoviruses play a direct role in the pathogenesis of asthma by activating deleterious inflammatory responses or if they only serve as a catalyst to accelerate the disease in genetically predisposed individuals. There have been previously demonstrated reductions in the development of the asthmatic phenotype with passive immunization against respiratory syncytial virus; however, in the case of rhinovirus, there are barriers to effective vaccine development, such as the lack of a common antigenic target due to alterations of surface markers among subtypes. It remains to be determined whether certain subtypes of human rhinovirus are more asthmagenic and therefore worthy of greater attention as vaccine candidates, but several studies have suggested that RV-C and certain RV-A strains may be more strongly linked with asthma.