Kheradmand Farrah, Rishi Kirtee, Corry David B
Department of Medicine, The Biology of Inflammation Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2002 Aug;110 Suppl 4(Suppl 4):553-6. doi: 10.1289/ehp.02110s4553.
Current data overwhelmingly document the existence of a worldwide asthma epidemic, although individual studies remain controversial. The epidemic is thought to involve primarily persons with allergic asthma, and many diverse theories, based on an immunopathologic understanding of disease, have recently emerged to explain this involvement. In the context of recent insights into the immune basis of experimental asthma, we discuss in this review the leading asthma epidemic theories, including a new theory based on inhaled environmental proteases. Although no single theory may yet be fully embraced, there exists substantial hope that a unifying mechanism for the epidemic will be revealed through additional research.
目前的数据充分证明全球哮喘流行的存在,尽管个别研究仍存在争议。这种流行被认为主要涉及过敏性哮喘患者,并且基于对疾病的免疫病理学理解,最近出现了许多不同的理论来解释这种关联。结合近期对实验性哮喘免疫基础的深入了解,我们在本综述中讨论主要的哮喘流行理论,包括一种基于吸入性环境蛋白酶的新理论。虽然尚未有单一理论能被完全接受,但通过进一步研究揭示该流行的统一机制仍有很大希望。