Innate and adaptive immune responses in asthma

Allergen sensitization is triggered by activating receptors of the innate arm of the immune system. This leads to the recruitment and activation of dendritic cells, which have a sentinel role in orchestrating the attendant adaptive response. Stephen Holgate highlights recent findings on how innate receptors are triggered, cellular sources of cytokines driving immune cell activation and the identification of new helper T cell subsets driving chronic allergic airway inflammation.