Department of Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Front Immunol. 2020 Sep 25;11:574027. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.574027. eCollection 2020.
Asthma is a highly prevalent, chronic respiratory disease that impacts millions of people worldwide and causes thousands of deaths every year. Asthmatics display different phenotypes with distinct genetic components, environmental causes, and immunopathologic signatures, and are broadly characterized into type 2-high or type 2-low (non-type 2) endotypes by linking clinical characteristics, steroid responsiveness, and molecular pathways. Regardless of asthma severity and adequate disease management, patients may experience acute exacerbations of symptoms and a loss of disease control, often triggered by respiratory infections. The interferon (IFN) family represents a group of cytokines that play a central role in the protection against and exacerbation of various infections and pathologies, including asthma. Type I and III IFNs in particular play an indispensable role in the host immune system to fight off pathogens, which seems to be altered in both pediatric and adult asthmatics. Impaired IFN production leaves asthmatics susceptible to infection and with uncontrolled type 2 immunity, promotes airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and inflammation which can lead to asthma exacerbations. However, IFN deficiency is not observed in all asthmatics, and alterations in IFN expression may be independent of type 2 immunity. In this review, we discuss the link between type I and III IFNs and asthma both in general and in specific contexts, including during viral infection, co-infection, and bacterial/fungal infection. We also highlight several studies which examine the potential role for type I and III IFNs as asthma-related therapies.
哮喘是一种高度流行的慢性呼吸道疾病，影响着全球数百万人，每年导致数千人死亡。哮喘患者表现出不同的表型，具有不同的遗传成分、环境原因和免疫病理特征，并通过将临床特征、类固醇反应性和分子途径联系起来，广泛分为 2 型高或 2 型低（非 2 型）表型。无论哮喘的严重程度和疾病管理是否充分，患者都可能经历症状的急性恶化和疾病控制的丧失，通常由呼吸道感染引发。干扰素 (IFN) 家族是一组细胞因子，在抵御和加重各种感染和疾病（包括哮喘）方面发挥着核心作用。特别是 I 型和 III 型 IFN 在宿主免疫系统中对抗病原体方面发挥着不可或缺的作用，而在儿科和成年哮喘患者中，这种作用似乎发生了改变。IFN 产生受损使哮喘患者易受感染和 2 型免疫失控的影响，促进气道高反应性 (AHR) 和炎症，从而导致哮喘恶化。然而，并非所有哮喘患者都存在 IFN 缺乏，IFN 表达的改变可能与 2 型免疫无关。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 I 型和 III 型 IFN 与哮喘之间的联系，包括在病毒感染、合并感染和细菌/真菌感染时的一般和具体情况。我们还强调了几项研究，这些研究探讨了 I 型和 III 型 IFN 作为与哮喘相关的治疗方法的潜在作用。
