Respiratory syncytial virus: the possible trigger of airway remodeling through matrix metalloproteinase activation?

摘要

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of epidemic respiratory tract illness in children. Severe RSV infections involving the lower respiratory tract are primarily seen in young children with naive immune systems and/or genetic predispositions. However, RSV was not recognized as a potentially serious problem in older adults until the 1970s, when outbreaks of the virus infection occurred in long-term care facilities. Since then, additional studies in hospitalized adults have suggested that RSV may be an important cause of illness in community-dwelling elderly people, patients with suppressed T-cell immunity (such as heart transplant recipients).