Asthma is a chronic obstructive disease of the airways. To date, asthma affects over 300 million people in the wolrd and is considered incurable in adults. The pathophysiology of asthma is only partly understood. However, we do know that inflammation is a hallmark of the disease and airway smooth muscle activation is the main determinant of airflow obstruction. Adult horses can develop an obstructive respiratory disease (known as severe equine asthma), which is a recognized animal model for the study of human asthma. It is characterized by neutrophilic inflammation and marked airway smooth muscle remodeling. Our research focuses on the role of airway smooth muscle in asthma and its determinants, either genetic, mechanical or inflammatory. In collaboration with human respiratory physicians, we aim to understand the role of airway neutrophilia in the complex inflammatory panorama of the disease.

Read more:

• Find out the effects of the fluticasone/salmeterol combined therapy on airway remodelling and neutrophilic inflammation in severe equine asthma at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09414-8
• A recent review on the contribution of oxidative stress and inflammaging in human and equine neutrophilic asthma: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/18/12/2612

• Ricciardolo FLM., Carriero V., Bullone M. - MicroRNAs as biomarkers in CS-resistant/ neutrophilic asthma: Still a long way to go!’ Am J Respir Crit Care Med. - (2020) doi: 10.1164/rccm.202004-1216ED.
• Bullone M., Lavoie JP. - The equine asthma model of airway remodeling: from veterinary to human perspective - Cell Tissue Res. doi: 10.1007/s00441-019-03117-4.
• Folino A., Carriero V., Bullone M., Di Stefano A., Profita M., Balbi B., Pieper M., Ricciardolo FLM. - Muscarinic receptor M3 contributes to vascular and neural growth factor up-regulation in severe asthma - (2019) Allergy, 75(3):717-720. doi: 10.1111/all.14074.
• Bullone M., Carriero V., Bertolini F., Folino A., Mannelli A., Di Stefano A., Gnemmi I., Torchio R., Ricciardolo FLM. - Elevated serum IgE, OCS-dependence and IL-17/22 expression in highly neutrophilic asthma - (2019) Eur Respir J, 54(5), pii: 1900068. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00068-2019.
• Bullone M., Lavoie JP. - The contribution of oxidative stress and inflamm-aging in human and equine asthma - (2017) Int J Mol Sci 18(12). pii: E2612.
• Lachance M., Mailhot-Larouche S., Bullone M., Henry C., Dandurand RJ., Boulet LP., Laviolette M., King GG., Farah CS., Bossé Y. - Assessment of Airway Distensibility by the Forced Oscillation Technique: Reproducible and Potentially Simplifiable - (2017) Front Physiol, 8 :223.
• Bullone M., Vargas A., Elce Y., Martine GJ., Lavoie JP. - Fluticasone/salmeterol reduces remodelling and neutrophilic inflammation in severe equine asthma - (2017) Sci Rep, 7(1):8843.
• Bullone M., Beauchamp G., Godbout M., Martin J., Lavoie JP. - Endobronchial ultrasound reliably quantifies airway smooth muscle remodeling in an equine asthma model - (2015) Plos ONE 10(9):e0136284.
• Bullone M., Lavoie JP. - Asthma "of horses and men" - how can equine heaves help us better understand human asthma immunopathology and its functional consequences? - (2015) Mol Immunol, 66:97-105.

• Prof. Jean-Pierre Lavoie, Université de Montréal, Canada
• Prof. Fabio Luigi Massimo Ricciardolo, Dept. of Clinical and Biological Sciences, Università degli Studi di Torino, Itay
• Dr. Ynuk Bossé, Université Laval, Canada