AIRWAY EPITHELIAL REPAIR - BREATHTAKINGLY QUICK AND MULTIPOTENTIALLY PATHOGENIC

Epithelial shedding, even to the point of airway denudation, had alrea dy been described as a common and unifying feature of asthma by the la tter half of the 19th century. However, the repair processes that spec ifically follow the shedding-like loss of epithelial cells have only r ecently been examined in vivo. This paper discusses the exceedingly fa st epithelial restitution and the potential pathogenic sequelae to epi thelial shedding alone that have been unravelled. Epithelial cytoprote ction emerges as an important property of future therapeutic drugs for the treatment of airways inflammatory conditions.