Allergy Asthma Respir Dis AARD Allergy, Asthma & Respiratory Disease 2288-0402 2288-0410 The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease; The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology 10.4168/aard.2016.4.2.82 Review Airway epithelial cells in airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2572-5302 Kim Sae-Hoon 1 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea. Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea. Correspondence to: Sae-Hoon Kim. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 82 Gumi-ro 173beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam 13620, Korea. Tel: +82-31-787-7046, Fax: +82-31-787-4052, shkrins@gmail.com 03 2016 31 03 2016 4 2 82 90 18 01 2016 02 02 2016 14 02 2016 © 2016 The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease; The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2016 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Airway epithelial cells are the front-line barrier to outer world, and abnormal response to environmental agents can cause asthma. Large numbers of recent studies support the evidence that airway epithelial cells play a crucial role in the development of airway inflammation and remodeling. Defective barrier function of airway epithelium facilitates allergic sensitization and initiation of allergic inflammation. Airway epithelial cells contribute to the development of type 2 immune response by secreting key cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin and the interactions between various innate immune cells, including innate lymphoid cells, granulocytes, and macrophages. Furthermore, airway remodeling can be induced by epithelial cell-derived mediators even independently of airway inflammation. Aberrant repair of airway injury or distinct biophysical/biochemical characteristics of airway epithelial cells in asthmatics may be involved in the pathophysiologic mechanism of airway remodeling. Therapeutic approaches targeting airway epithelial cells are warranted.

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TGF, transforming growth factor; IL, interleukin; TSLP, thymic stromal lymphopoietin; DC, dendritic cell; ILC2, innate lymphoid cell 2; iNKT cell, invariant natural killer T cell.