© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Remodelling of CF airways
Muscling into cystic fibrosis airways
Division of Respiratory Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor A J Knox
Division of Respiratory Medicine, Nottingham City Hospital, Hucknall Road, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK; alan.knox@nottingham.ac.uk
Remodelling of the airway smooth muscle layer is not confined to patients with severe CF but occurs also in those with mild to moderate disease
Keywords: cystic fibrosis; airway smooth muscle
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Most patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) develop progressive airflow obstruction. A subgroup of these patients also have airway hyperresponsiveness to inhaled bronchoconstricting agents1,2 and reversibility of airflow obstruction in response to bronchodilators.3 Parallels have been drawn between these observations and other airway diseases manifesting with airway obstruction and bronchial hyperresponsiveness such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This led to speculation that remodelling of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) layer may contribute to bronchial hyperresponsiveness in CF.
Studies in the past have been restricted to patients with severe CF. Pathological studies of the lungs of these patients obtained either at necropsy or following transplantation or lobectomy showed an increase in smooth muscle area compared with healthy controls or patients with COPD.4,5 In this issue of Thorax Hays et al6 have, for the first time, studied the ASM layer in patients with mild to moderate
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- Airwaves
- Wisia Wedzicha
Thorax 2005 60: 175a.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Regamey, N., Ochs, M., Hilliard, T. N., Muhlfeld, C., Cornish, N., Fleming, L., Saglani, S., Alton, E. W. F. W., Bush, A., Jeffery, P. K., Davies, J. C.
(2008). Increased Airway Smooth Muscle Mass in Children with Asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, and Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
177: 837-843
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
