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Obesity is a major risk factor for asthma because of the systemic and localized inflammation of the airways that occurs in people with a high body mass index. It hinders how airway muscles function, increasing the risk of developing asthma. People with obesity manifest a higher risk of severe asthma, decreased disease control and decreased response to corticosteroids therapy.
Obese people have a type of asthma that is caused by hyperresponsiveness-a higher-than-normal response to an allergen, hyperresponsiveness causes the airways to narrow, obstructing ease of breathing, and can occur when the muscles contract or begin to spasm.
Research team combined human airway smooth muscle cells with histamine, a chemical the immune system makes in response to an allergen, and carbachol, a drug that stimulates the part of the nervous system that controls the airways. Stimulating airway cells with these substances causes the cells to release calcium, which mimics muscle contraction.
The researchers found that muscle cells from obese donors released more calcium and had greater shortening-a function that occurs during muscle contraction than the cells from normal-weight donors. The cells from female obese donors released more calcium than cells from male obese donors. These shows that obesity imprints on structural cells or airway smooth muscle cells] a unique signature that can be identified and that may lead to novel targeted approaches to improve asthma management without the use of steroids.