Title: Role and Pharmacogenomics of TNF-α in Asthma
Volume: 8
Issue: 9
Author(s): Dimosthenis Lykouras, Fotis Sampsonas, Alexandros Kaparianos, Kiriakos Karkoulias and Kostas Spiropoulos
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Asthma, TNF, inflammatory disease, chronic inflammation., chronic heterpgeneous disease
Abstract: Asthma is a chronic heterogeneous inflammatory disease of the respiratory system in which numerous cytokines play a significant role. Among them TNF-α (tumour necrosis factor α), a proinflammatory cytokine, has a predominant role in orchestrating airway inflammation and affecting treatment outcome. In this review we attempt to summarize the involvement of TNF-α in the pathogenesis of asthma, illustrate variations of TNF-α gene that potentially influence asthma phenotype and highlight promising therapies by blocking the production of TNF-α or inhibiting its action. A cytokine specific target therapy seems to be very promising since agents that block TNF-α slow disease progression, suppress inflammation and in some cases induce remission of chronic inflammation.
