FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY OF AIRWAY EOSINOPHILS IN ALLERGIC DISEASE

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The goal of all of the laboratory studies conducted under this protocol is to help to determine the role of the eosinophil (allergy cell) in asthma. Our studies have indicated that the presence of the eosinophil in induced sputum (mucous) from the lungs of research volunteers with asthma is associated with airway hyperresponsiveness or the 'twitchiness' of the asthmatic airway rather than the actual decrease in lung function. The eosinophil is also becoming recognized as a cell that helps to regulate airway inflammation and is not simply a cell that moves to the lung to cause bad effects. This study will help to further research in to the complex role that eosinophils have in asthma.