Bronchoconstriction damages airway epithelia by crowding-induced excess cell extrusion

Asthma is deemed an inflammatory disease, yet the defining diagnostic feature is mechanical bronchoconstriction.

Our findings show that bronchoconstriction causes epithelial damage and inflammation by excess crowding-induced cell extrusion and suggest that blocking epithelial extrusion, instead of the ensuing downstream inflammation, could prevent the feed-forward asthma inflammatory cycle.