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Bronchial brushings for investigating airway inflammation and remodellingAsthma is the commonest medical cause for hospital admission for children in Australia, affects more than 300 million people worldwide, and is incurable...
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Determinants of culture success in an airway epithelium sampling program of young children with cystic fibrosisDeterminants of culture success through retrospective analysis of a program of routinely brushing children with Cystic Fibrosis airway disease
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Improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of recurrent tonsillitisStrep A causes over 775 million infections each year world-wide, including over 615 million cases of tonsil infection (Strep throat).

The Airway Epithelial Research Team is investigating the role of the epithelium in the development of airway diseases including asthma, cystic fibrosis and lung transplant rejection.
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Pulmonary bacteriophage and cystic fibrosis airway mucus: friends or foes?For those born with cystic fibrosis (CF), hyper-concentrated mucus with a dysfunctional structure significantly impacts CF airways, providing a perfect environment for bacterial colonization and subsequent chronic infection. Early treatment with antibiotics limits the prevalence of bacterial pathogens but permanently alters the CF airway microenvironment, resulting in antibiotic resistance and other long-term consequences.
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Interleukin-1 is associated with inflammation and structural lung disease in young children with cystic fibrosisOur data associates IL-1α with early structural lung damage in CF and suggests this pathway as a novel anti-inflammatory target
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Ground zero—the airway epitheliumNew PageThis chapter will discuss the structure of the airway highlighting the now broad number of cell types that comprise it
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Pulmonary microRNA profiles identify involvement of Creb1 and Sec14l3 in bronchial epithelial changes in allergic asthmaIn this study, we aimed to use microRNAs-which are critical regulators of signaling cascades-to identify so far uncharacterized asthma pathogenesis pathways
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Primary Nasal Epithelial Cells as a Surrogate Cell Culture Model for Type-II Alveolar Cells to Study ABCA-3 DeficiencyATP Binding Cassette Subfamily A Member 3 (ABCA-3) is a lipid transporter protein highly expressed in type-II alveolar (AT-II) cells. Mutations in ABCA3 can result in severe respiratory disease in infants and children. To study ABCA-3 deficiency in vitro, primary AT-II cells would be the cell culture of choice although sample accessibility is limited. Our aim was to investigate the suitability of primary nasal epithelial cells, as a surrogate culture model for AT-II cells, to study ABCA-3 deficiency.
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Dysregulated Notch Signaling in the Airway Epithelium of Children with WheezeThe airway epithelium of children with wheeze is characterized by defective repair that contributes to disease pathobiology. Dysregulation of developmental processes controlled by Notch has been identified in chronic asthma. However, its role in airway epithelial cells of young children with wheeze, particularly during repair, is yet to be determined.