Asthma
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Asthma is a chronic illness that affects many people. Asthma affects approximately 155 million people around the world. The pharmaceutical industry approximates $5.5 billion in sales for asthma medication per year for a condition that is incurable.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways. The narrowing of airways occurs due to inflammation and excessive mucous secretion. The constriction of the airway gives rise to common asthmatic symptoms of wheezing, coughing, tightness in the chest, and shortness of breath. The usual form of control for asthma is bronchiodilators and corticosteriods.
Although, bronchiodilators are used in asthma therapy they have no effect on the inflammatory process. Bronchiodilators are a class of drug that relaxes airway smooth muscle by increasing cAMP and opening potassium channels. Corticosteriods on the other hand are now considered the first line of treatment for patients with severe and chronic asthma. Corticosteriods bind to a receptor in the cytosol, which translocates to the nucleus and binds DNA to activate genes. The main action of corticosteriods is to suppress multiple inflammatory genes, such as cytokines, inflammatory enzymes and adhesion molecules. The effectiveness of the corticosteriod is in most part due to the inhibition of transcription factors, such as AP-1 (activation protein 1), Nuclear factor-b (NF-b), and nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NF-AT), which are required for inflammatory response.
The FcRI is the receptor for the IgE antibody. The FcRI is composed of a chain that binds