We sought to better understand how the underlying immune system is involved in asthma and how interactions between different components of the immune system may affect clinical features of asthma. We focused on a protein, CCL5, which is commonly involved in Type 1 inflammation (a form of inflammation involved in fighting bacteria/viruses and in autoimmune disease). Type 1 inflammation is often very resistant to steroid therapy. We observed that CCL5 was associated with both Type 1 and Type 2 inflammation (a form of inflammation involved in allergies and well described in asthma). We showed that CCL5 was associated with higher eosinophils (a cell involved in asthma and associated with asthma severity) and given that Type 1 inflammation is steroid resistant, our findings suggest that some individuals may have a steroid resistant Type 1 inflammation that also drives eosinophils to the lung, which may result in steroid resistant asthma.
Read the full paper here: CCL5 is a potential bridge between type 1 and type 2 inflammation in asthma – ScienceDirect