Main description:

Allergens and respiratory pollutants is a collection of 12 authoritative papers that draws upon the collective expertise of world leaders in the fields of innate immunity, immunotoxicology and pulmonary biology. The book critically explores the biological and immunological mechanisms that contribute to immune dysfunction on exposure to allergens and the susceptibility to infectious disease on exposure to ambient pollutants. The clinical relevance of exposure to ambient airborne xenobiotics is critically discussed and collectively, this book provides an educational forum that links the health effects of environmental exposures, immune dysfunction and inflammatory airways disease.

Contents:

List of illustrations

Editor's note

About the editor and contributors

Chapter 1: An introduction to allergic inflammation and the innate immune sensing of dangerous ambient pollutants by the dendritic cell

Chapter 2: Asthma: primary immunomodulatory pathways

Chapter 3: Environmental lung injury and pattern recognition receptors

Chapter 4: Asthma exacerbations: a paradigm of synergy between allergens, pollutants and viruses

Chapter 5: Bronchial hyperresponsiveness and lung inflammation induced by allergic immune response and oxidative stress: role of innate and adaptive immune responses

Chapter 6: Effects of air pollutants on allergic sensitization through the airway

Chapter 7: Particulate matter and oxidative stress: dangerous partners in inflammation, vascular dysfunction and innate immunity

Chapter 8: Diesel exhaust particles and the airway epithelial cell - dendritic cell interface in the control of immune homeostasis

Chapter 9: Role of macrophages in adverse pulmonary effects of particulate pollutants

Chapter 10: Particulate air pollution and vulnerability to respiratory infections in children

Chapter 11: The intersection of respiratory syncytial virus infection, innate immunity and allergic lung disease

Chapter 12: Interactions between allergens and dendritic cells: pattern recognition receptors and their function in the pathogenesis of allergic respiratory diseases

Index