Grant: Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Asthma is a respiratory disease that effects more than 10% of the North America population, including 2.5 million Canadians. During asthma attacks, exaggerated closing of the airways and lung inflammation makes it hard to breathe, which can lead to death. To date there is no known cure for the disease. The exact causes leading to the development of asthma are not perfectly clear, although it is known that air pollution can trigger asthma attacks. Exactly how air pollution leads to asthma attacks remains a mystery. One possibility of how air pollution contributes to asthma is that during breathing, air pollution is inhaled into the lungs and irritates the protective barrier of cells that line the lungs. The protective barrier of cells, called airway epithelial cells, may release molecules in response to air pollution that leads to difficulty in breathing. We propose to study how air pollution interacts with airway epithelial cells. We will do this by collecting samples from human subjects with or without asthma that have been exposed to diesel exhaust. We anticipate that our research will show us how the human body responds to air pollution. Our studies will provide i) biological data to support public health initiatives aimed at protecting vulnerable populations from air pollution and ii) new targets for the development of drugs for the treatment of asthma. There are few research groups in the world that perform air pollution studies with human beings. The combination of air pollution studies in humans and research on airway epithelial cells is even more unique. Our proposed research studies will therefore have high impact on respiratory research fields by being the first to demonstrate precise and relevant biological consequences of air pollution on asthma. Our studies will also form a foundation of knowledge for air quality health policy initiatives that are designed to protect the health of all Canadians.