Associations Between Asthma Severity and Responsiveness to Th2- and Th17-derived Cytokines in Pediatric Asthmatics

A mouse model of allergen-driven severe asthma supports an association between Th17 responses and severe disease, and demonstrate that severely asthmatic animals have increased production of Th17 cytokines and responsiveness to IL-17A. Conclusions Nasal epithelial cells responses to IL-13 and IL-17A vary proportionally with allergic asthma severity, suggesting that severity can be regulated at the level of cytokine responsiveness. [...]IL-17A augments IL-13-mediated responses while IL-13 suppresses IL-17A-mediated responses, providing a potential mechanistic explanation for increased susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections in allergic individuals.