Airway remodelling in asthma remains topical in research and clinical practice, and a very poorly understood abnormality despite a large body of published work. It is important both from a pathophysiological and patient management point of view since there is evidence that airway remodelling relates to airway hyperresponsiveness , to accelerated lung function decline resulting in fixed airway obstruction and severe disease defined by suboptimal symptom control despite high doses of inhaled corticosteroids.

One of the major difficulties in studying and understanding airway remodelling in relation to disease mechanisms and clinical expression is the inherent problems in its measurement. It is arguable whether histopathology should be the gold standard for airway remodelli...