Most of us are familiar with asthma. Maybe you have the disease yourself or maybe a friend, family member, or coworker has it. Or maybe you’ve just watched a tv show or movie featuring a character with asthma. However you learned about this disease, you probably still have some lingering questions about it, like “how do inhalers work?”, “what are the different types of asthma?”, “where does the word asthma come from?”, “can other animals get asthma?”, and “can Erin and Erin tell me everything they possibly can about asthma?” The answer to that last question is a resounding yes, and the answers to the others you’ll find in today’s episode, where we take you through the complicated but somehow also straightforward biology of this disease, the long history of asthma peppered with firsthand accounts, and the promising research that may transform the way we live with this disease.
| History | Biology |
| Jackson, Mark. Asthma: the biography. Oxford University Press, 2009. | Gans, M.D. and Gavrilova, T., 2020. Understanding the immunology of asthma: Pathophysiology, biomarkers, and treatments for asthma endotypes. Paediatric respiratory reviews, 36, pp.118-127. |
| van Tilburg Bernardes, Erik, and Marie-Claire Arrieta. “Hygiene hypothesis in asthma development: is hygiene to blame?.” Archives of medical research 48.8 (2017): 717-726. | Barnes PJ. Pathophysiology of asthma. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1996 Jul;42(1):3-10. |
| Garn, Holger, Daniel Piotr Potaczek, and Petra Ina Pfefferle. “The hygiene hypothesis and new perspectives—Current challenges meeting an old postulate.” Frontiers in Immunology 12 (2021): 637087. | Murphy, D.M. and O’Byrne, P.M., 2010. Recent advances in the pathophysiology of asthma. Chest, 137(6), pp.1417-1426. |
| Holgate, Stephen T. “A brief history of asthma and its mechanisms to modern concepts of disease pathogenesis.” Allergy, asthma & immunology research 2.3 (2010): 165-171. | Ahmed, H. and Turner, S., 2019. Severe asthma in children—a review of definitions, epidemiology, and treatment options in 2019. Pediatric pulmonology, 54(6), pp.778-787. |
| Liu, Andrew H. “Revisiting the hygiene hypothesis for allergy and asthma.” Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 136.4 (2015): 860-865. | Stern, J., Pier, J. and Litonjua, A.A., 2020, February. Asthma epidemiology and risk factors. In Seminars in immunopathology (Vol. 42, pp. 5-15). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. |
| Platts‐Mills, T. A. E., et al. “Is the hygiene hypothesis still a viable explanation for the increased prevalence of asthma?.” Allergy 60 (2005): 25-31. | Wegienka, G., Zoratti, E. and Johnson, C.C., 2015. The role of the early-life environment in the development of allergic disease. Immunology and Allergy Clinics, 35(1), pp.1-17. |
| Sakula, Alex. “A history of asthma: The Fitzpatrick lecture 1987.” Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London 22.1 (1988): 36. | Matheson, M.C., Allen, K.J. and Tang, M.L.K., 2012. Understanding the evidence for and against the role of breastfeeding in allergy prevention. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 42(6), pp.827-851. |
| Walter, Michael J., and Michael J. Holtzman. “A centennial history of research on asthma pathogenesis.” American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology 32.6 (2005): 483-489. | Capriotti, D.T., Dawn, N. and Ciocco, T., 2023. Update on Asthma Management: the 2022 GINA Report. Clinical Advisor, pp.NA-NA. https://ginasthma.org/gina-reports/ |
| Weber, Juliane, et al. “Asthma and the hygiene hypothesis. Does cleanliness matter?.” American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 191.5 (2015): 522-529. | Crossingham, I., Turner, S., Ramakrishnan, S., Fries, A., Gowell, M., Yasmin, F., Richardson, R., Webb, P., O’Boyle, E. and Hinks, T.S., 2021. Combination fixed‐dose beta agonist and steroid inhaler as required for adults or children with mild asthma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (5). |
| Elliott, H. L., and J. L. Reid. “The clinical pharmacology of a herbal asthma cigarette.” British journal of clinical pharmacology 10.5 (1980): 487-490. | Brown, S.R., 2023. Recent Changes in International Asthma Guidelines May Be Influenced by Pharmaceutical Industry Conflicts of Interest. American Family Physician, 107(4), pp.342-343. |
| The Global Asthma Report. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2022; 26: S1–S102. |
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