神经生长因子与咳嗽变异性哮喘

Nerve growth factor and cough variant asthma

咳嗽变异性哮喘是指以慢性咳嗽为主要或惟一临床表现的一种特殊类型的哮喘。目前发病机制尚不十分清楚。神经生长因子（nervegrowthfactor，NGF）是神经营养家族中成员之一。随着NGF在慢性咳嗽患者诱导痰中的发现，对NGF在咳嗽变异性哮喘发病机制中的作用引起人们的重视。研究发现，NGF是一种多功能的细胞生长和调节因子，对免疫细胞的生长、分化、激活可产生重要影响，从而参与咳嗽变异性哮喘的免疫失衡。因此，NGF是联系免疫细胞与神经细胞之间的双向信号分子。因而对NGF的研究，有助于探讨咳嗽变异性哮喘发病机制。

Cough variant asthma refers to the chronic cough as the main or only clinical manifestation of a special type of asthma. Pathogenesis is currently unclear. Nerve growth factor （NGF） is a member of the neurotrophin family. As the NGF-induced sputum in chronic cough patients with the discovery of NGF in the pathogenesis of cough variant asthma in the role of the attention raises. The study found,NGF is a multifunctional regulator of cell growth and on immune cell growth, differentiation, activation can have a significant impact, thus to participate in cough variant asthma, immune imbalance. Therefore, NGF is a link between immune cells and nerve cells, the bi-directional signaling molecules. NGF thus the study will help to explore the pathogenesis of cough variant asthma.