title: Environmental effects on immune responses in patients with atopy and asthma.
abstract: Despite attempts and some successes to improve air quality over the decades, current US national trends suggest that exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution remains a significant risk factor for both the development of asthma and the triggering of asthma symptoms. Emerging science also suggests that environmental exposures during the prenatal period and early childhood years increase the risk of asthma. Multiple mechanisms mediate this risk because a wide range of deleterious air pollutants contribute to the pathogenesis of asthma across a variety of complex asthma phenotypes. In this review we will consider the role of altered innate and adaptive immune responses, gene-environment interactions, epigenetic regulation, and possibly gene-environment-epigene interactions. Gaining a greater understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the effect of exposure to air pollution on asthma, allergies, and other airway diseases can identify targets for therapy. Such interventions will include pollutant source reduction among those most exposed and most vulnerable and novel pharmaceutical strategies to reduce asthma morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care of Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY; Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY. Electronic address: rlm14@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Peden
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity / Q000187:drug effects*; D001249:Asthma; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000276:immunology / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants
keywords: Air pollution; adaptive immunity; epigenetic regulation; innate immunity; mechanisms