Division of Cell Biology, Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
Curr Opin Immunol. 2012 Dec;24(6):713-9. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2012.08.011. Epub 2012 Sep 13.
Lower respiratory tract virus infections are the major cause of asthma exacerbations. Severity of infection and age at initial encounter with virus appear to be major determinants of the risk for allergic asthma later in life. In animal models, reinfection of mice initially infected as neonates leads to markedly enhanced alterations in airway function and inflammation, unlike reinfection of older mice. Both innate and adaptive immune responses contribute to this susceptibility with lung dendritic cells showing marked differences in phenotype and function in young compared to older mice, and these differences are further enhanced following virus infection. These findings have implications for therapeutic targeting, for example, of RSV G and F surface proteins at different stages of the response to infection.
下呼吸道病毒感染是哮喘恶化的主要原因。感染的严重程度和首次接触病毒的年龄似乎是日后发生过敏性哮喘的主要决定因素。在动物模型中，与初次感染的老年小鼠相比，新生期初次感染的小鼠再次感染会导致气道功能和炎症明显改变。固有免疫和适应性免疫反应均有助于这种易感性，与老年小鼠相比，年轻小鼠的肺树突状细胞在表型和功能上存在显著差异，而在病毒感染后，这种差异进一步增强。这些发现对治疗靶点具有重要意义，例如，针对 RSV G 和 F 表面蛋白在感染反应的不同阶段进行靶向治疗。
