Mast cells - bystanders or instigators of airway remodelling in asthma?

目前的哮喘治疗方法对我们肺部呼吸管的变化几乎没有效果。管子变厚变硬，有更多的肌肉、血管、基质和粘液。我们提出，一种特殊的炎症细胞，称为肥大细胞，导致呼吸管的这些变化，我们将找出它是如何做到这一点的。因此，该项目将确定哮喘患者呼吸管变化的原因和方式，并揭示如何在未来最好地针对和逆转预防这些变化。

Current asthma treatments have little effect on changes to the breathing tubes in our lungs. The tubes are thickened and stiffer, with more muscle, blood vessels, matrix and mucus. We propose that a particular inflammatory cell, called a mast cell, causes these changes to the breathing tubes and we will find out how it does that. Thus this project will establish why and how the changes to the breathing tubes happen in asthma and reveal how best to target and reverse-prevent them in the future.