Pharmacological regulation of airway smooth muscle phenotype

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In Australia there is a high incidence of asthma which impairs quality of life and can sometimes cause death if sufficiently severe. The main cause of asthma is the shortening of muscle surrounding the airway passages that cause the narrowing of these tube-like passages. When airway passages narrow a feeling of chest tightness is perceived by the asthmatic patient. When the narrowing is severe the amount of oxygen being delivered to the blood can be reduced to dangerous levels. When there is muscle growth in the airways even small amounts of shortening of the muscle can cause severe narrowing of the airway passages. This research will investigate how muscle grows in asthmatic airways and look for new ways to use drugs to treat this muscle growth. We hope to improve drug treatment of asthma by limiting the amount of airway narrowing caused by muscle contraction.