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This paper is an editorial comment by Professor Patrick Holt on the potential for developing early intervention strategies in children with allergies and asthma
The respiratory tract is an attractive target organ for novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications with nano-sized carriers, but their immune effects and...
Appropriate innate immune function is essential to limit pathogenesis and severity of severe lower respiratory infections (sLRI) during infancy, a leading cause of hospitalization and risk factor for subsequent asthma in this age group.
Asthma exacerbations in children are associated with respiratory viral infection and atopy, resulting in systemic immune activation and infiltration of immune cells into the airways. The gene networks driving the immune activation and subsequent migration of immune cells into the airways remains incompletely understood. Cellular and molecular profiling of PBMC was employed on paired samples obtained from atopic asthmatic children during acute virus-associated exacerbations and later during convalescence.
Poor maternal diet during pregnancy is a risk factor for severe lower respiratory infections in the offspring, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that in mice a maternal low-fiber diet led to enhanced LRI severity in infants because of delayed plasmacytoid dendritic cell recruitment and perturbation of regulatory T cell expansion in the lungs.
Human perinatal life is characterized by a period of extraordinary change during which newborns encounter abundant environmental stimuli and exposure to potential pathogens. To meet such challenges, the neonatal immune system is equipped with unique functional characteristics that adapt to changing conditions as development progresses across the early years of life, but the molecular characteristics of such adaptations remain poorly understood.
Researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia have found children with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to develop asthma.
Honorary Emeritus Fellow; Scientific Reviewer - Animal Ethics
A hallmark of atopic asthma is development of chronic airways hyper-responsiveness (AHR) that persists in the face of ongoing exposure to perennial...
Prospective birth cohort studies tracking asthma initiation and consolidation in community cohorts have identified viral infections occurring against a...