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Asthma And COPD

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Asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are the most common inflammatory diseases of the lung. Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the respiratory tract and characterized by bronchial hyper-reactivity, airway constriction, loss of breath, wheezing and mucus production in the lung. In the world, the number of individuals suffering from asthma is increasing at an alarming rate. About 18.7 million adults and 6.8 million of children in the United States suffer from asthma as reported by CDC (Asthma, n.d.). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that leads to obstructed airflow from the lungs. Inflammatory response to cigarette smoke is a major cause for the development of chronic obstructive …show more content…

Inflammation in allergic asthma occurs primarily in larger bronchi and larger airways and is marked by the influx of eosinophils. COPD involves the lung parenchyma and small airways and is marked by the influx of neutrophils. Current therapies like oral corticosteroids target these inflammatory processes. Anti-FAS, anti-IL-5 and corticosteroids treatment involves inducing eosinophil and neutrophils apoptosis and serve to counteract survival signals encountered by these same cells such as IL-5 and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). They all lack cell specificity and have a higher degree of cellular toxicity than required for use in a chronic disease state such as asthma and COPD. Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectins (Siglecs) are immune regulatory molecules found on the surfaces of inflammatory cells. Siglec-8 is expressed on the surface of eosinophils, mast cells and Siglec-9 on neutrophils. Binding and crosslinking of these receptors to their ligand have proapoptotic effect on eosinophils and neutrophils and will help dampen immune responses and regulate

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