Asthma exacerbatory factors. Homo sapiens

The exacerbation of disease in asthmatics has been linked to both exposure to environmental agents as well as to the presence of virus in airways, particularly rhinovirus. The hypothesis tested in these experiments is that differences in gene expression profiles in epithelial cells derived from asthmatic and normal airways can be linked to enhanced responsiveness of the epithelium in its pro-inflammatory, immulogic or other activities that may lead to the exacerbation of disease. Keywords: other