Published ahead of print on August 28, 2009, doi:10.1165/rcmb.2009-0220TR
© 2009 American Thoracic Society DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2009-0220TR
The Cytokine Network in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease1 National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Peter J. Barnes, D.M., F.Med.Sci., F.R.S., Airway Disease Section, National Heart and Lung Institute, Dovehouse Street, London SW3 6LY, UK. E-mail: p.j.barnes{at}imperial.ac.uk Abstract Multiple cytokines play a role in the orchestration of inflammation in inflammatory airway diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, through the recruitment, activation and survival of inflammatory cells. Lymphokines secreted from T cells regulate the pattern of inflammation, whereas proinflammatory cytokines amplify and perpetuate the inflammatory response. Multiple chemokines recruit inflammatory cells from the circulation into the lungs and many growth factors maintain this inflammation and lead to characteristic structural changes in the airways. There are several therapeutic approaches that target cytokine-mediated inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but blocking specific cytokines may not provide clinical benefit, whereas broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory approaches are more likely to be clinically effective.
Key Words: inflammation • cytokine • chemokine • growth factor • nuclear factor- Related articles in AJRCMB:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
B
