ABSTRACT
Much of the significant progress in elaborating the complex pathophysiological pathways of asthma in the past 30 years can be attributed to collaborative interdisciplinary contributions of physiologists, pathologists, and immunologists/allergists. These investigators of the disease now agree that inflammation is the common denominator among the other pathologic hallmarks of asthma. The complex cascade of events associated with asthmatic inflammation has, largely, been demonstrated by the study of immunological or allergic asthma, utilizing either bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), bronchial biopsies, induced sputum, or animal models. None of these advances would have been possible without access to sophisticated immunohistological and molecular biology techniques.
