Airway Smooth Muscle and Respiratory Diseases
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 854
Special Issue Editor
2. Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine & Science (RITMS), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Interests: airway smooth muscle and asthma; metabolic regulation of airway smooth muscle; pulmonary fibrosis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Asthma is characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), inflammation and remodeling. Airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells have pivotal roles in all these aspects of asthma. The contractile function of ASM cells primarily contributes to the bronchospasm and reversible airway obstruction seen in asthma exacerbations. Furthermore, the synthetic and secretory functions of ASM cells are pivotal to airway inflammation and remodeling. Bronchodilators, such as beta2 adrenergic agonists, are the mainstay of current asthma treatments. Prolonged and repeated use of beta2 adrenergic agonists, however, results in receptor desensitization and tachyphylaxis in patients with severe asthma. Asthma is also a heterogeneous disease in its origin, and thus presents with heterogeneous response to existing asthma therapeutics among patients. Therefore, novel and druggable targets need to be identified to design new therapeutics to prevent bronchospasm and AHR in asthma. ASM, as the primary driver of bronchospasm, remains an important tissue to focus on for novel drug target research in asthma.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the role of ASM in all three aspects of asthma pathology—airway hyperreactivity, airway inflammation and remodeling—and to expedite identifying novel, druggable targets related to these aspects, we invite researchers to submit cutting-edge original and review articles on the topic of airway smooth muscle and respiratory diseases. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the much-needed novel knowledge on ASM biology relevant to airway diseases characterized by bronchospasm, such as asthma and COPD.
Dr. Joseph Jude
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- airway
- airway smooth muscle
- asthma
- COPD
- airway hyperresponsiveness
- airway inflammation
- airway remodeling
- bronchospasm
- bronchodilators
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