SPEAKER: Jason Debley, MD, MPH

TITLE: Asthma Begins at the Barrier:  Dysregulated Epithelial Responses to Viruses as Drivers of Exacerbations and Airway Remodeling in Childhood Asthma

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how airway epithelial cells function as active immune regulators in childhood asthma beyond their role as structural barriers.
2. Explain the role of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) as an epithelial-derived alarmin in asthma pathophysiology and discuss how blocking TSLP signaling with biologic therapy impacts severe asthma outcomes.
3. Describe how dysregulated epithelial interferon responses to respiratory viruses may contribute to asthma exacerbations and airway remodeling.
4. Explain how transcriptomic studies from clinical airway samples, together with mechanistic findings from human organotypic airway epithelial model systems, have advanced understanding of the epithelium’s role in asthma pathogenesis and viral-induced exacerbations.