It is well established that asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airway mucosa and drugs like inhaled glucocorticoids are now commonly introduced early in therapy. A characteristic feature of this disease is the vast number of eosinophils in airway tissue, although many other migratory and resident inflammatory cells with the capacity to synthesize and release cytokines and putative asthma mediators are present in the inflamed mucosa. The cross-talk between lymphocytes and these cells and the role of cytokines in complex biological networks are currently areas of intense research.This volume gathers together chapters and discussions on the biology of immunocompetent and inflammatory cells, cellular interplay and communication, and on the relative importance of cells and mediators in disease.It should help contribute to further insights into the pathology of asthma and to the development of novel efficacious drugs for the treatment of asthma and related respiratory disorders.
Now available in its Third Edition, Asthma: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Management has become the reference text in asthma. This highly successful text sheds new light on the basic physiological and molecular mechanisms of asthma, how current treatments work, and how best to apply the latest knowledge to control this important disease. The Third Edition has undergone radical revision and includes several new chapters. It retains the virtues of the previous volumes by bringing together all of the recent research findings by internationally recognized experts on the causative mechanisms of asthma, including in-depth clinical aspects and therapy. The book presents an integrated approach toward the treatment of this disease with new concepts, changes in asthma management, and the development of new therapeutic agents. Asthma provides extensive references for researchers and clinicians who need to keep abreast of recent developments in this rapidly expanding field.