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Ca2+ homeostasis and structural and functional remodelling of airway smooth muscle in asthma

Asthma is characterised by airway hyper-responsiveness and remodelling, and there is mounting evidence that alterations in the phenotype of airway smooth muscle (ASM) play a central role in these processes. Although the concept that dysregulation of ASM Ca2+ homeostasis may underlie at least part of these alterations has been around for many years, it is only relatively recently that the availability of ASM biopsies from subjects with mild and moderate asthma has allowed it to be properly investigated. In this article, critical components of the pathobiology of asthmatic ASM, including contractile function, proliferation, cell migration and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, are reviewed and related to associated changes in ASM Ca2+ homeostasis. Based on this evidence, it is proposed that a unifying mechanism for the abnormal asthmatic phenotype is dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis caused at least in part by a downregulation in expression and function of sarcoendoplasmic Ca2+ ATPases (SERCAs).