title: Bronchial brushings for investigating airway inflammation and remodelling.
abstract: Asthma is the commonest medical cause for hospital admission for children in Australia, affects more than 300 million people worldwide, and is incurable, severe in large number and refractory to treatment in many. However, there have been no new significant treatments despite intense research and billions of dollars. The advancement in our understanding in this disease has been limited due to its heterogeneity, genetic complexity and has severely been hampered particularly in children by the difficulty in obtaining relevant target organ tissue. This review attempts to provide an overview of the currently used and recently developed/adapted techniques used to obtain lung tissue with specific reference to the airway epithelium.
authors.affiliation: School of Paediatrics and Child Health, Centre for Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Looi
authors.forename: Erika N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Sutanto
authors.forename: Balarka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Garratt
authors.forename: Kak-Ming
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Clara J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Foo
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Stick
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kicic
mesh_terms: D056151:Airway Remodeling; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D001315:Australia; D001706:Biopsy; D001980:Bronchi / Q000473:pathology*; D018893:Bronchoalveolar Lavage; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans