Evaluating the response of alveolar macrophages to inhaled medicines

Respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema affect millions of people globally. Many new inhaled therapies are rejected early in drug development due to immune responses observed in rodent lung, despite not knowing if these observations are relevant in humans. Gaining an understanding of how and why the main immune cells in the lung (alveolar macrophages) differentiate according to the chemicals or medicines they are exposed to, will provide a deeper knowledge on how the immune system reacts to inhaled therapies. This will help to produce new
inhaled therapies that are safe for patients.