Studies on regulation of neutrophilic airway inflammation in severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

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Neutrophilic airway inflammation, a characteristic feature of severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was analyzed using murine models, and regulation of the neutrophilic inflammation was evaluated. Unexpectedly, a good COPD model could not be developed even when cigarette smoke was co-administered with an infection factor to mice for a long term. On the other hand, in a murine model of severe asthma, neutrophils were involved in airway obstruction induced several hours after exposure to allergen. It was also found that macrophage-derived chemokines were involved in the neutrophilic airway inflammation. In addition, the neutrophilic inflammation was suppressed by an anti-inflammatory molecule, interleukin (IL)-10, which was endogenously produced. Next, development of a new cellular immunotherapy for asthma was started: Method for induction of IL-10-producing T lymphocytes from spleen cells was developed in vitro.