CHEMOKINES IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF ASTHMA

趋化因子在哮喘发病中的作用。哮喘是一种严重的 尤其是市中心儿童健康问题。最近的研究 发现许多哮喘发作是由暴露于 然而，蟑螂过敏原，肺内的介质， 疾病的进展尚未完全确定。虽然许多 虽然以前已经检查了潜在的介质，但哮喘仍然需要 对患者造成损失。更具体地说，靶向治疗有可能 通过直接识别这些介质来改善哮喘的治疗 负责疾病的发病机制。该项目将测试 哮喘样肺损伤是由局部炎症介导的假说， 趋化因子的产生。趋化因子是一种小分子量的多肽 其诱导炎性细胞的趋化性和募集。他们 是具有持久和有效生物活性的强大介质。 我们的第一个具体目标将确定急性和慢性肺 直接注射趋化因子后发生的炎症 肺损伤的评估将包括组织学和 形态测量分析以及神经支配的评估 航空公司.第二个具体目标是开发一种哮喘样小鼠模型， 蟑螂过敏原引起的肺部炎症这种模式的 通过定位蟑螂数量高的家庭， 过敏原（与其他两个研究项目一起进行）， 用这种材料免疫小鼠。小鼠将接受以下挑战： 暴露于含有蟑螂过敏原的灰尘的气溶胶中， 肺损伤仔细定量，包括分析 呼吸道的神经支配。我们的第三个具体目标将调查 负责上调趋化因子的生化途径， 细胞被致敏，然后用蟑螂过敏原攻击。 我们将 专注于活性氧和活性氮中间体，因为它们 已经证明可以增加趋化因子的转录。我们 最后一个具体目标将严格检验中心假设， 趋化因子在哮喘的发病机制中是重要的。这将是 通过用特异性阻断趋化因子的生物活性来测试， 中和抗体，并确定是否有减少， 蟑螂致肺部炎症 过敏原成功完成我们的项目将描绘出 疾病的潜在机制，并确定潜在的新目标， 干预

Chemokines in the Pathogenesis of Asthma. Asthma represents a serious health problem particularly for inner city children. Recent studies have identified that many of the asthmatic attacks are triggered by exposure to cockroach allergens however, the mediators within the lung that dictate progression of disease have still not been fully defined. While many potential mediators have been examined previously, asthma still exacts a toll on the patients. More specific, targeted therapy has the potential to improve the treatment of asthma by identifying those mediators directly responsible for the pathogenesis of the disease. This project will test the hypothesis that asthma-like pulmonary injury is mediated by the local production of chemokines. Chemokines are small molecular weight peptides which induce the chemotaxis and recruitment of inflammatory cells. They are powerful mediators with long lasting and potent biological activities. Our first specific aim will determine the acute and chronic pulmonary inflammation that develops after direct injection of the chemokines into the lung. The assessment of the injury will include histologic and morphometric analysis as well as an assessment of the innervation of the airways. The second specific aim will develop a mouse model of asthma-like pulmonary inflammation in response to cockroach allergens. This model will be established by locating households with high levels of cockroach allergens (done in conjunction with the other two research projects) and using this material to immunize the mice. The mice will be challenged by exposure to aerosols containing the dust with the cockroach allergens and the pulmonary injury carefully quantitated including an analysis of innervation of the airways. Our third specific aim will investigate the biochemical pathways responsible for the upregulation of the chemokines in cells sensitized and then challenged with cockroach allergens. We will focus on reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen intermediates since they have been demonstrated to increased the transcription of chemokines. Our last specific aim will rigorously test the central hypothesis that chemokines are important in the pathogenesis of asthma. This will be tested by blocking the biological activity of the chemokines with specific neutralizing antibodies and determining if there is a reduction in the pulmonary inflammation induced by repeated exposures to the cockroach allergens. Successful completion of our project will both delineate the underlying mechanisms of disease and identify potential novel targets for intervention.