The Role and Mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Airway Inflammation and Remodeling in Asthma: Overview and Progress

Abstract

Asthma as an individual disease has blighted human health for thousands of years and is still a vital global health challenge at present. Though getting much progress in the utilization of antibiotics, mucolytics, and especially the combination of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting β-agonists (LABA), we are confused about the management of asthmatic airway inflammation and remodeling, which directly threatens the quality of life for chronic patients. The blind addition of ICS will not benefit the remission of cough, wheeze, or sputum, but to increase the risk of side effects. Thus, it is necessary to explore an effective therapy to modulate asthmatic inflammation and airway remodeling. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has justified its anti-asthma effect in clinical practice but its underlying mechanism and specific role in asthma are still unknown. Some animal studies demonstrated that the classic formula, direct exacts, and natural compounds isolated from TCM could significantly alleviate airway structural alterations and exhibit the anti-inflammatory effects. By investigating these findings and data, we will discuss the possible pathomechanism underlined airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma and the unique role of TCM in the treatment of asthma through regulating different signaling pathways.

Lonicerin attenuates house dust mite-induced eosinophilic asthma through targeting Src/EGFR signaling

“…In this study, we found that lonicerin effectively Frontiers in Pharmacology frontiersin.org attenuated airway hyperresponsiveness, type 2 inflammatory factor expression, inflammatory cell (especially eosinophil) infiltration, and mucus hypersecretion in HDM-induced eosinophilic asthmatic mice. Airway remodeling has always been a major contradiction in refractory asthma, and it has been reported that biologics and some traditional Chinese medicines could alleviate airway remodeling, but there are still many controversies and lack of long-term clinical observation (Varricchi et al, 2022;Zhou et al, 2022). Our results showed that lonicerin reduced mucus hypersecretion, but cannot reverse collagen fiber deposition, which needs to be further observed with a longer course of medication in future studies.…”

Research trends on airway remodeling: A bibliometrics analysis

“…(5) Autophagy: Autophagy is the recycling mechanism of all eukaryotic cells and plays a significant role in the physiological activity, metabolism and survival of cells [ 70 , 71 ]. In recent years, much evidence has shown that autophagy is associated with airway remodeling, which reveals the potential of regulating autophagy in treating airway remodeling [ 72 ]. As a critical link in mesenchymal to epithelial transition, the connection between autophagy and EMT has been extensively investigated in the field of cancer and has also gained attention in airway remodeling [ 73 ].…”

Effect of curcumin nanoparticles on proliferation and migration of mouse airway smooth muscle cells and airway inflammatory infiltration

“…With the advent of novel medical experimental techniques, significant advancements have been achieved in experimental research on airway remodeling prevention and treatment using traditional Chinese medicine (Zhou et al, 2022). Traditional Chinese medicine exhibits distinctive characteristics such as multi-pathway, multi-link, and multi-target effects, rendering it highly promising for the prevention and treatment of airway remodeling compared to Western medicine.…”