Potential New Target for Treating Asthma

Medium: illustrator, photoshop
Audience: media, public, researchers
Purpose: This illustration demonstrates the effect of NF-κB on airway remodeling: Asthma sufferers have trouble breathing because of the narrowing of the airways from their bronchioles, the open airways of the lung, an example of which is shown in the upper left. In chronic asthma (lower left), repeated cycles of inflammation, damage and repair lead to airway remodeling and fibrosis, the buildup of collagen and other materials surrounding the bronchioles. Recently implicated in this remodeling is the airway epithelium cell, and inhibiting a signaling molecule in these cells known as NF-κB can significantly reduce the fibrosis associated with chronic asthma (lower right).
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