PG3 - Asthma - pathology and treatment
Postgraduate CourseChairs: M. Spiteri (Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom), E. Bel (Leiden, The Netherlands)
Aims: This is the first course in a three-year postgraduate core curriculum covering the main issues on asthma from pathogenetics to current treatment strategies. The aims of this first module in the series are:
• to review how the airways respond immunologically to environmental insults, how this relates to asthma pathogenesis and the role of Th1/Th2 cells, regulatory responses and tolerance mechanisms;
• to give insight into the pathophysiology of asthma, in particular the role of smooth muscle in hyperresponsiveness and remodelling of the asthmatic airway;
• to describe the benefits and drawbacks of different methods to evaluate airway inflammation and remodelling, and the utility of monitoring methods in clinical decision making;
• to give an overview of new approaches to pharmacotherapy of asthma and prospects for the future.