Role of airway smooth muscle in inflammation

We now have to consider the airway smooth muscle as an actor of the bronchi al inflammation in asthma. in addition to ifs bronchoconstricting role in r esponse to mediators secreted by the adjacent cells and tissues, that may b e considered as to be passive regarding the airway inflammation, the airway smooth muscle may now be considered as pro-inflammatory, since it has the potential of synthesizing and secreting a variety of chemokines and growth factors that will favor cell proliferation and attraction of inflammatory c ells. The airway smooth muscle may modify its phenotype from a contractile to a secretory or a proliferative phenotype. These differentiation states o f the bronchial smooth muscle may be studied experimentally by culturing th e airway smooth muscle. The demonstration of the occurrence and/or coexiste nce of such differentiation states in vivo will help understand the exact r ole of the bronchial smooth muscle in the airway inflammation in asthma.