Asthma Paid Clinical Trials in Massachusetts

This study will evaluate a new imaging technology, called optical coherence tomography (OCT) to examine the asthmatic airways before and after bronchial thermoplasty, which is a new treatment option for severe asthmatic patients. The aim of this study is to learn more about how airways respond to this new treatment. In the future the investigators hope OCT will aid clinicians in the initial assessment, management and long-term follow up of patients receiving bronchial thermoplasty. Read Less

Determining how memory T helper type 2 (Th2) initiate recall responses to aeroallergens has the potential to change the therapeutic approach to allergic asthma, the most common asthma subtype. ~5-10% of effector Th2 cells recruited into the lung give rise to long-lived tissue resident memory cells that are poised to respond upon allergen re-exposure.Consequently, targeting memory Th2 cell activation is an attractive therapeutic strategy. However, it is not well understood how allergen inhalation initiates a memory Th2 cell response in the lung. The focus of this new study on the role of lung-resident memory Th2 cells in orchestrating the recall response to allergen in the lung, including the recruitment and activation of circulating Th2 cells, is a natural, timely and exciting extension of the investigators' ongoing Allergen Challenge Protocol. Read Less