The Role of Airway Smooth Muscle in Health and Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Airway smooth muscle (ASM) controls an airway diameter and regulates the amount of air that reaches the lungs.

ASM dynamic function is portrayed in the plasticity of ASM cells that switch between contractile and proliferative phenotypes in response to environmental, physiological, and pathological signals. Consequently, ASM dysfunction is manifested through increased ASM contractile tone, mass (hyperplasia and hypertrophy), and immunomodulatory function. ASM dysfunction is a key pathological feature to many airway diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, emphysema, and cystic fibrosis, and treatments for these diseases often target ASM.

The last few decades of research have highlighted a number of factors that modulate ASM tone and remodeling. leading to airway hyperresponsiveness and the exacerbation of airway inflammatory responses. These include but are not by any means limited to inflammation and injury, environmental exposure to pathogens or pollutants, hypoxia, epithelium derived factors, sex hormones, neurotransmitters, and neuromodulators.

All these factors affect the gene expression of ASM cells in ways not always clarified. In addition, very recent studies have shown the involvement of genetic mutations and epigenetic regulation of ASM cell gene expression by long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) in the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases.

Intense and active research in the field of ASM physiology and pathophysiology aims to meet challenges like the identification of markers of airway remodeling, description of the crosstalk between signaling pathways involved in the regulation of airway smooth muscle cell hyperplasia, clarification of the pharmacology and therapeutics of bronchodilators, and optimization of the use of existing and development of novel drugs.

We cordially invite researchers in the field to submit original research or review articles related to interesting aspects of ASM function in health and disease.

Dr. Efrosyni Paraskeva
Guest Editor

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• airway smooth muscle (ASM)
• airway hyperreactivity (AHR)
• remodeling
• hyperplasia
• hypertrophy
• immunomodulation
• bronchodilators