title: Murine Models of Allergic Asthma.
abstract: Allergic asthma is a heterogeneous inflammatory lung disease affecting millions of people worldwide and with a steadily increasing incidence. Mouse models have been of utmost importance in uncovering key inflammatory cell types, cytokines, and pathways in the development and maintenance of allergic asthma. Historically, the mainstay in experimental asthma research was sensitizing rodents to the model protein antigen ovalbumin (OVA) with the pro-Th2 adjuvant aluminum hydroxide, followed by repetitive OVA exposures to the airways to initiate a Th2-skewed adaptive immune response leading to eosinophilic airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity (AHR). In the last 5 years, OVA is often replaced by naturally occurring allergens such as house dust mite (HDM) or cockroach extracts, but the principle of first sensitizing and then repetitively challenging mice with the same antigen is unchanged. Here, we describe an often used and relevant HDM-based protocol to establish acute allergic asthma, and the methods we have developed to rapidly analyze inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchalveolar lavage fluid by flow cytometry. Moreover, we explain the methods to restimulate T cells from lung-draining mediastinal lymph nodes with HDM to allow the measurement of cytokine secretion profiles of allergen reactive T cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium.|Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haspeslagh
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium.|Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nincy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Debeuf
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium.|Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hamida
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hammad
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium. bart.lambrecht@ugent.be.|Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium. bart.lambrecht@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Bart N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Lambrecht
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000379:methods; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D039981:Pyroglyphidae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D045424:Complex Mixtures; D016207:Cytokines; D010047:Ovalbumin
keywords: Acute allergic asthma; Bronchoalveolar lavage; Eosinophilia; Flow cytometry; House dust mite (HDM); Mediastinal lymph nodes; Murine model; Ovalbumin (OVA)