Anti-remodelling drugs for the treatment of asthma: Requirement for animal models of airway wall remodelling

Abstract

1. Airway wall remodelling (AWR), the structural change induced by acute and chronic inflammation in the airways, may be one of the most significant and difficult to reverse components of progressive asthma. 2. The mechanisms underlying the development of AWR are not known. Studies of only the most superficial wall structures of large airways can be conducted in living humans because of the degree of invasiveness required to measure airway structural changes. These studies reveal that currently available agents do not fully prevent or reverse AWR. Thus, animal models of asthma pathology may be used to assess the contribution of particular mediators and cells to the development of remodelling..