You are here:
Asthma and Respiratory Allergic Disease
Citation:
LEHMANN, D. M. AND M. A. WILLIAMS. Asthma and Respiratory Allergic Disease. Chapter 3, Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfunction & Chronic Disease. Springer, New York, NY, , 51-102, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
This chapter discusses the current state-of-the-art in our understanding of allergic immunity and particularly the role of innate immunity as the major conduit linking the host response to the respirable environment.
Description:
The pathogenesis of non-communicable diseases such as allergy is complex and poorly understood. The causes of chronic allergic diseases including asthma involve to a large extent, immunomodulation of the adaptive and particularly the innate immune systems and are markedly influenced by distinct environmental and genetic interactions. With every breath, the lung is challenged by a myriad of innocuous and potentially disease provoking microorganisms and a host of environmental "danger signals" against which the immune system either responds by mounting a primary inflammatory immune response, or essentially ignores -a process we term immune tolerance. In mammals, the existence of both innate and adaptive immune systems further complicates our ability to understand the mechanisms responsible for allergy and asthma. This chapter discusses the current state-of-the-art in our understanding of allergic immunity and particularly the role of innate immunity as the major conduit linking the host response to the respirable environment. We review current data, as well as that of our own, to critically discuss host-specific immune and genetic factors putatively involved in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. The specific roles played by the cells that constitute the innate immune system are discussed and particularly professional antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells that have evolved to sense and exquisitely respond to respirable environmental particles, allergens and infectious agents. This chapter thus provides a conceptual appreciation of the complex interplay between host specific factors and those environmental triggers that challenge the immune system and provoke allergic conditions in susceptible individuals.