New insights of small airway contribution to asthma have been gained. Poor levels of control and recurrent exacerbations were shown to have the phenotypic counterpart of asthma with predominant small airway involvement. Very few pathological specificities were identified at this site: mast cells infiltration was suggested as the specific inflammatory change when compared to the proximal airways.Biomarkers in asthma are still complex to validate, especially in the blood, since compartmentalisation is intense in the lung and the airways, a property attributed to the filtering role of the lung to maintain homeostasis. Over the last few years, Fraction exhaled Nitric Oxide (FENO) was developed as a non-invasive and indirect reflection of airway eosinophilic inflammation\]. In the blood, peripheral eosinophil counts were shown as a correct T helper 2 (TH2)-phenotype identifier but not perfectly related to airway eosinophilic infiltration. Club cell secretory protein (SCGB1A1) levels have been shown to have some relevance in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), BOS, sarcoidosis, and lung cancer.A biomarker for small airway disease in asthma may improve the management of the disease, identify areas of therapeutic resistance and constitute a therapeutic guidance tool. In this study, investigators aimed to assess small airway involvement in asthmatic women as far as they could. For this purpose, investigators analysed trends in air trapping by acquiring expiratory CT slices at each dose during a bronchoprovocation test with metacholine. Biomarkers were subsequently tested and confronted to clinical and demographical characteristics in their ability to predict the small airway involvement index obtained at CT.
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Change in inspiratory:expiratory mean lung density
Timeframe: 4 hours (after the enrollment)