The interactions of lung-resident structural and inflammatory cells have been profiled in both healthy individuals and those with asthma, according to results of an analysis published in Nature Medicine.
Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom, used healthy human respiratory tissue from nasal brushes, endobronchial biopsies, and brushes from living donors, and tissue samples and transplant lungs from deceased donors. They discovered a diversity of epithelial, endothelial, stromal, and immune cells, all of which can be viewed in a web portal online.
A broad range of airway epithelial cell types contributed to the chronic inflammation and airway remodeling related to asthma.
