Utility of inhaled allergen challenge in clinical diagnosis and management of asthma: what never? Well, hardly ever!

摘要

This article is very interesting as the authors provided the first evidence that airway remodelling may occur also in the upper airways of patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) [1]. In fact, this elegant study clearly demonstrated that there is an altered distribution pattern of collagen, pro-teoglycans, and lymphatic vessels in patients with persistent AR in comparison with normal subjects. In addition, this study showed that the severity of rhinitis may affect the degree of remodelling. The authors concluded that those observed changes could potentially modulate the remodelling of nasal mucosa. An Editorial introduced this study and concluded with a very relevant statement: 'a better understanding of remodelling in the upper airways might help identify new pathways and new therapeutic strategies to reduce long-term remodelling in the lower in the lower airways' [2].