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Inflammation pp 121–136Cite as

Murine Models of Allergic Asthma

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1559))

Abstract

Allergic asthma is a heterogeneous inflammatory lung disease affecting millions of people worldwide and with a steadily increasing incidence. Mouse models have been of utmost importance in uncovering key inflammatory cell types, cytokines, and pathways in the development and maintenance of allergic asthma. Historically, the mainstay in experimental asthma research was sensitizing rodents to the model protein antigen ovalbumin (OVA) with the pro-Th2 adjuvant aluminum hydroxide, followed by repetitive OVA exposures to the airways to initiate a Th2-skewed adaptive immune response leading to eosinophilic airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity (AHR). In the last 5 years, OVA is often replaced by naturally occurring allergens such as house dust mite (HDM) or cockroach extracts, but the principle of first sensitizing and then repetitively challenging mice with the same antigen is unchanged. Here, we describe an often used and relevant HDM-based protocol to establish acute allergic asthma, and the methods we have developed to rapidly analyze inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchalveolar lavage fluid by flow cytometry. Moreover, we explain the methods to restimulate T cells from lung-draining mediastinal lymph nodes with HDM to allow the measurement of cytokine secretion profiles of allergen reactive T cells.

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Acknowledgments

Eline Haspeslagh is supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Inflammation Research Center, Ghent, Belgium

    Eline Haspeslagh, Nincy Debeuf, Hamida Hammad & Bart N. Lambrecht

  2. Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Eline Haspeslagh

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

    Nincy Debeuf, Hamida Hammad & Bart N. Lambrecht

Authors
  1. Eline Haspeslagh
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  2. Nincy Debeuf
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  3. Hamida Hammad
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  4. Bart N. Lambrecht
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bart N. Lambrecht .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Björn E. Clausen

  2. Section Medical Physiology Department of Neuroscience, University of Groningen University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Jon D. Laman

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Haspeslagh, E., Debeuf, N., Hammad, H., Lambrecht, B.N. (2017). Murine Models of Allergic Asthma. In: Clausen, B., Laman, J. (eds) Inflammation. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1559. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6786-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6786-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6784-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6786-5

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