Although asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the conducting airways involving TH2-type T
cells, there is increasing evidence for an important role played by the epithelium in
orchestrating the inflammatory response by interacting with multiple environmental factors to
produce a chronic wound scenario involving tissue injury and aberrant repair. Part of this
abnormal response is the consequence of impaired barrier function caused by a primary
disruption of epithelial tight junctions that allows inhaled substances to pass more easily into …