Regulation of Eosinophilia in Asthma-New Therapeutic Approaches for Asthma Treatment

• Published in: Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 817
• Main Authors: Cusack, Ruth P, Whetstone, Christiane E, Xie, Yanqing, Ranjbar, Maral, Gauvreau, Gail M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 06.04.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Apoptosis; Asthma; Blood; Bone marrow; Bronchospasm; Chemokines; clinical trials; Cytokines; Disease; eosinophil; Eosinophilia; Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; Growth factors; Inflammation; Inflammatory diseases; inflammatory mechanisms; Interleukin 13; Interleukin 3; Interleukin 5; Leukocyte migration; Leukocytes (eosinophilic); Lymphocytes; Pathophysiology; Prevention; Recruitment; Respiratory tract; Review; Therapeutic targets; therapy; Thymic stromal lymphopoietin; inflammatory mechanisms; asthma; clinical trials; eosinophil; therapy
• ISSN: 2073-4409; 2073-4409
• DOI: 10.3390/cells10040817

Asthma is a complex and chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, bronchospasm, and airway eosinophilia. As the pathophysiology of asthma is becoming clearer, the identification of new valuable drug targets is emerging. IL-5 is one of these such targets because it is the major cytokine supporting eosinophilia and is responsible for terminal differentiation of human eosinophils, regulating eosinophil proliferation, differentiation, maturation, migration, and prevention of cellular apoptosis. Blockade of the IL-5 pathway has been shown to be efficacious for the treatment of eosinophilic asthma. However, several other inflammatory pathways have been shown to support eosinophilia, including IL-13, the alarmin cytokines TSLP and IL-33, and the IL-3/5/GM-CSF axis. These and other alternate pathways leading to airway eosinophilia will be described, and the efficacy of therapeutics that have been developed to block these pathways will be evaluated.