Examining the role of the airway neutrophil in the pathogenesis of asthma

The aims of this project are to investigate the role of the neutrophil in the immunopathology of asthma, and in particular, in non-eosinophilic asthma, by:

1. Assessing the level of activation in airway inflammatory cells by analysing cell surface activation marker expression and functional activity using flow cytometry before and after cell stimulation.
2. Measuring indicators of cell activity in sputum supernatant samples.
3. Comparing neutrophil and eosinophil activation before and after stimulation between asthma inflammatory phenotypes (eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic) and non-asthmatics.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Weinkove R, Brooks C, Carter J, Hermans I, Ronchese F. Functional invariant natural killer T cell and CD1d axis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: implications for immunotherapy. Haematologica, 2013; 98(3): 376-384.
Brooks C, van Dalen C, Hermans I, Douwes J. Identifying leukocyte populations in fresh and cryopreserved sputum using flow cytometry. Cytometry: Part B - Clinical Cytometry, 2013; 84B(2): 104–113.
Brooks C, Gibson P, Douwes J, van Dalen C, Simpson J. Relationship between airway neutrophilia and ageing in asthmatics and non-asthmatics. Respirology, 2013; 18(5): 857–865.
Weinkove R, Brooks C, Carter J, Hermans I, Ronchese F. Efficient depletion of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells using serial rounds of immunomagnetic depletion. J Immunol Methods, 2013; 396(1-2): 152-156.
Brooks C, van Dalen C, Hermans I, Gibson P, Simpson J, Douwes J. Sputum basophils are increased in eosinophilic asthma compared with non-eosinophilic asthma phenotypes. Allergy, 2017; 72(10): 1583-1586.
Brooks C, van Dalen C, Harding E, Hermans I, Douwes J. Effects of treatment changes on asthma phenotype prevalence and airway neutrophil function. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 2017; 17: 169.