Airwaves
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
TNF
in refractory asthma
As Berry and Pavord point out in their editorial in this month’s Thorax, asthma refractory to treatment with inhaled corticosteroids is an important health and economic problem and unmet clinical need. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) has been implicated in the mechanisms of refractory asthma, where TNF production is increased, and this has led to interest in TNF antagonists for asthma management. Morjaria and colleagues report a randomised controlled trial of a TNF antagonist (etanercept) in corticosteroid refractory asthma. After 12 weeks there was a small improvement in asthma control, but no effect on quality of life, lung function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and eosinophilic or neutrophilic airway inflammation. A fall in C-reactive protein (CRP) reflecting systemic inflammation was also noted. The authors conclude that larger trials are required that are adequately powered for the relevant outcomes. The editorial also concludes that future studies need careful patient characterisation with recruitment of the
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Articles
-
Antagonism of tumour necrosis factor in refractory asthma
- Mike A Berry and Ian D Pavord
Thorax 2008 63: 571-572.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- A patchy consolidation at the apical segment of the left lower lobe associated with productive cough
- Y-L Chang, C-T Wu, and Y-C Lee
Thorax 2008 63: 620.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Continuous positive airway pressure improves vascular function in obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome: a randomised controlled trial
- M D Cross, N L Mills, M Al-Abri, R Riha, M Vennelle, T W Mackay, D E Newby, and N J Douglas
Thorax 2008 63: 578-583.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
-
The role of a soluble TNF receptor fusion protein (etanercept) in corticosteroid refractory asthma: a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial
- J B Morjaria, A J Chauhan, K S Babu, R Polosa, D E Davies, and S T Holgate
Thorax 2008 63: 584-591.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Clarithromycin vs ciprofloxacin as adjuncts to rifampicin and ethambutol in treating opportunist mycobacterial lung diseases and an assessment of Mycobacterium vaccae immunotherapy
- P A Jenkins, I A Campbell, J Banks, C M Gelder, R J Prescott, and A P Smith
Thorax 2008 63: 627-634.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Alpha-1-antitrypsin aerosolised augmentation abrogates neutrophil elastase-induced expression of cathepsin B and matrix metalloprotease 2 in vivo and in vitro
- P Geraghty, M P Rogan, C M Greene, M L Brantly, S J O’Neill, C C Taggart, and N G McElvaney
Thorax 2008 63: 621-626.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- 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.
