PURPOSE Asthma is a pulmonary chronic inflammatory disease characterized by airway obstruction and hyperresponsiveness. Pattern recognition receptors are known to play a key role in the development of allergic diseases as well as host defenses against microbial infection. Receptor interacting protein 2 (RIP2), a serine/threonine kinase, is an adaptor molecule of NOD1 and NOD2, and genetic varia...

Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, mucus overproduction, airway hyperreactivity, and peribronchial fibrosis. Intelectin has been shown to be increased in airway epithelium of asthmatics. However, the role of intelectin in the pathogenesis of asthma is unknown. Airway epithelial cells can secrete chemokines such as monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and -3 that play crucial roles ...

Pretreatment with mycobacterial Ags has been shown to be effective in preventing allergic airway inflammation from occurring in a mouse model. Because most asthmatics are treated after the development of asthma, it is crucial to determine whether mycobacterial Ags can reverse established allergic airway inflammation in the presensitized state. Our hypothesis, based upon our previous findings, i...

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The CD26-associated enzymatic activity of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) as well as the recruitment of CD26(+) T cells increase under allergic airway inflammation. Furthermore, genetic deficiency of CD26/DPP4 exerts protective effects in experimental asthma. Therefore, CD26/DPP4 might represent a novel therapeutic target in asthma. To study the effects of pharmacological inhibition of DPP4 on al...

According to the current paradigm, allergic airway inflammation is mediated by Th2 cytokines and pro-inflammatory chemokines. Since allergic inflammation is self-limited, we hypothesized that allergen challenge simultaneously induces anti-inflammatory genes to counter-balance the effects of Th2 cytokines and chemokines. To identify these putative anti-inflammatory genes, we compared the gene ex...

Interleukin-13 and interferon-γ are important effectors of T-helper cells. Interleukin-13 increases expression of the arachidonic acid-metabolizing enzyme, 15-lipoxygenase-1, in a variety of cell types. 15-lipoxygenase-1 is dramatically elevated in the airways of subjects with asthma. Studies in animals indicate that 15-lipoxygenase-1 contributes to the development of allergic airway inflammati...

Chronic exposure to farm environments is a risk factor for nonallergic lung disease. In contrast to allergic asthma, in which type 2 helper T cell (Th2) activation is dominant, exposure to farm dust extracts (FDE) induces Th1/Th17 lung inflammation, associated with neutrophil infiltration. Macrophage influx is a common feature of both types of lung inflammation, allergic and nonallergic. Howeve...

BACKGROUND Initiated and regulated by mast cells, allergic responses are balanced through an intricate network of positive and negative signals. We have recently shown that the inhibitory receptor CD300a is expressed on human mast cells and modulates a large array of their functions. OBJECTIVE We sought to evaluate CD300a as a negative regulator of allergic inflammation in vivo by means of a ...