New insights into airway remodelling in asthma and its possible modulation.

Purpose Of Review: Airway remodelling, a central feature of asthma, is characterized by an alteration in the size, mass or number of tissue components which occur in and around the trachea, bronchi and bronchioles in the airways in response to injury and/or inflammation. The present review focuses on the most recent literature on airway remodelling and on the different drugs commonly used or potentially useful in the treatment of asthma with a particular attention to the studies conducted by our group in the last few years.

Recent Findings: The interaction between the epithelium and mesenchymal elements such as fibroblasts is essential for normal airway repair.

Levocetirizine in persistent allergic rhinitis: continuous or on-demand use? A pilot study.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a high-prevalence disease that affects quality of life (QOL), sleep quality and productivity of patients. According to the ARIA initiative, it is classified as intermittent and persistent, the latter being the most troublesome.

Methods: The aim of this randomized, open-label, 6-month, pilot study was to determine whether levocetirizine 5 mg administered continuously once daily in the morning was better than levocetirizine 5 mg on-demand in symptomatic subjects with persistent allergic rhinitis.

Clara cell 16 protein in COPD sputum: a marker of small airways damage?

Rationale: The development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in smokers and their susceptibility to infections is not fully understood. Recent evidences suggest that Clara cells play a part in host defense, immunomodulatory response and airways remodelling through the production of specific factors such as Clara cell 16 (CC-16). This protein has never been related to patients' lung function tests, blood gases parameters and diseases severity.

Importance of fibroblasts-myofibroblasts in asthma-induced airway remodeling.

Asthma is a chronic airway disorder principally characterized by bronchial hyperreactivity and airflow obstruction. Increased epithelial and smooth muscle thickness, goblet cell hyperplasia, increased mucus secretion, abnormal deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the basement membrane (BM) layer and angiogenesis are all events which occur in asthma and are defined with the general term of remodeling. This is an important feature whose repetition and regeneration may bring to an abnormal or exaggerated response to airway insults.

Role of contact sensitization in chronic urticaria.

We tested the hypothesis that contact allergy plays a role in chronic urticaria, and included the Italian series of patch tests in the diagnostic workup. Of 121 patients with chronic urticaria, 50 (41%) tested positive to contact allergens. In all patients, avoidance measures led to a complete remission within 1 month.

A model of allergen-driven human airway contraction: beta2 pathway dysfunction without cytokine involvement.

Background: In our previous in vitro model, allergen incubation of passively sensitized human airways reduced the response to salbutamol. However, whether cytokines play a role in this model is still unknown.

Objective: To investigate interleukin 1beta and tumor necrosis factor a expression in allergen-challenged human airways.