Bronchial angiogenesis in horses with severe asthma and its response to corticosteroids.
Authors: Millares-Ramirez Esther M, Lavoie Jean-Pierre
Journal: Journal of veterinary internal medicine
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Bronchial Angiogenesis in Equine Severe Asthma Structural remodelling of the lower airways in horses with severe asthma—characterised by bronchial wall thickening—remains incompletely reversible with conventional corticosteroid therapy, suggesting that current treatment approaches may be overlooking key pathophysiological mechanisms. Millares-Ramirez and Lavoie investigated whether increased blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) within the bronchial wall contributes to this remodelling, as it does in human asthma populations, and whether corticosteroid treatment can suppress this vascular response. Their investigation of airway tissue from affected horses quantified vascular density and angiogenic markers before and after corticosteroid administration, allowing direct assessment of whether targeting angiogenesis might represent a novel therapeutic avenue. The findings demonstrated that abnormal bronchial angiogenesis does occur in equine severe asthma, though the responsiveness to corticosteroids varied, indicating that vascular remodelling may operate partially independently of classical glucocorticoid mechanisms. For practitioners, these results suggest that managing severe asthma purely through anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive corticosteroid strategies may leave underlying structural changes unaddressed, potentially explaining why some horses show plateau responses to treatment and might benefit from adjunctive approaches targeting airway vascular remodelling.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Current corticosteroid and standard treatments incompletely resolve airway wall thickening in horses with severe asthma, suggesting need for complementary therapeutic approaches
- •Understanding the role of blood vessel proliferation in airway remodeling may lead to improved treatment strategies targeting vascularization rather than inflammation alone
- •Horses with severe asthma may benefit from future therapies specifically designed to inhibit abnormal airway angiogenesis
Key Findings
- •Severe asthma in horses is characterized by structural thickening of the lower airway wall that is only partially reversible with current treatments
- •Increased vascularization (angiogenesis) contributes to bronchial wall thickening in horses with asthma, similar to human asthma pathophysiology
- •Bronchial angiogenesis is identified as a potential new therapeutic target for asthma management