Please read Dr. Panettieri’s article in Science Translational Medicine titled, “Steroid-induced fibroblast growth factors drive an epithelial-mesenchymal inflammatory axis in severe asthma.“
Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) are the mainstay controller therapy for patients with asthma and the standard of care in long-term asthma management. Although ICSs are sufficient to limit symptoms, exacerbations, and lung function decline in the majority of patients, individuals with severe disease uncontrolled by maximum doses of ICS represent a growing unmet need. As we have learned during the past decade, severe asthma is a heterogeneous disease, with a variety of underlying biologies and endotypes identified. Combination therapy with long-acting β agonists (LABA) or long-acting muscarinic antagonists is an effective rescue medication, and new therapeutics for severe asthma targeting underlying inflammatory pathways are showing promise; however, understanding how and why some individuals with severe asthma do not benefit from ICS may help guide more targeted approaches. A “steroid-insensitive” asthma phenotype has been described with patients presenting with more neutrophil-associated disease; however, the underlying mechanisms contributing to this phenotype are poorly understood and not met with current treatment options. To read the full article.
Steroid-induced fibroblast growth factors drive an epithelial-mesenchymal inflammatory axis in severe asthma. Guidi R, Xu D, Choy DF, Ramalingam TR, Lee WP, Modrusan Z, Liang Y, Marsters S, Ashkenazi A, Huynh A, Mills J, Flanagan S, Hambro S, Nunez V, Leong L, Cook A, Tran TH, Austin CD, Cao Y, Clarke C, Panettieri RA Jr, Koziol-White C, Jester WF Jr, Wang F, Wilson MS.Sci Transl Med. 2022 Apr 20;14(641):eabl8146. PMID: 35442706 DOI: 1126/scitranslmed.abl8146 Epub 2022 Apr 20.