Published ahead of print on November 15, 2007, doi:10.1164/rccm.200708-1217PP Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 177, Number 3, February 2008, 248-252 A more recent version of this article appeared on February 1, 2008
Submitted on August 17, 2007 Airway Smooth Muscle in Bronchial Tone, Inflammation and Remodeling: Basic to Clinical RelevanceReynold A Panettieri, Jr.1,1 Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2 Department of Biomedical Science, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, NY, USA, 3 Department of Pharmacology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV, USA, 4 Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MiI, USA, 5 Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA, 6 Division of Therapeutics, University Hospital of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schleges{at}nih.gov.
Airway smooth muscle (ASM) plays a pivotal role in modulating bronchomotor tone but also orchestrates and perpetuates airway inflammation and remodeling. Despite substantial research, there remain important unanswered questions. In 2006, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored a workshop to define new directions in ASM biology. Important questions concerning the key functions of ASM include: Does developmental dysregulation of ASM function promote airway disease, what key signaling pathways in ASM evoke airway hyperresponsiveness in vivo, do alterations in ASM mass affect excitation-contraction coupling and can ASM modulate airway inflammation and remodeling in a physiologically relevant manner? This workshop identified critical issues in ASM biology to delineate areas for scientific investigation in the identification of new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis. Key words: Myocyte, signal transduction, force generation, migration, remodeling
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