The term (bronchial) asthma describes a disorder syndrome that comprises several disease phenotypes, all characterized by chronic inflammation in the bronchial epithelium, with a variety of subsequent functional consequences. Thus, the epithelium in the conducting airways is the main localization of the complex pathological changes in the disease. In this regard, bronchial epithelial cells are not passively affected by inflammatory mechanisms induced by immunological processes but rather actively involved in all steps of disease development from initiation and perpetuation to chronification. In recent years it turned out that bronchial epithelial cells show a high level of structural and functional diversity and plasticity with epigenetic mechanisms playing a crucial role in the regulation of these processes. Thus, it is quite reasonable that differential functional activities of the bronchial epithelium are involved in the development of different asthma phenotypes and/or stages of disease. The current knowledge on this topic will be discussed in this review article.

中文翻译：

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气道上皮细胞在不同哮喘表型发展中的作用。

术语（支气管）哮喘描述了一种疾病综合征，其包括几种疾病表型，所有这些疾病表型均以支气管上皮的慢性炎症为特征，并具有多种随后的功能后果。因此，导气管中的上皮是该疾病中复杂病理变化的主要部位。在这方面，支气管上皮细胞不受免疫过程诱导的炎症机制的被动影响，而是积极参与疾病发展的所有步骤，从启动和永存到定时化。近年来发现，支气管上皮细胞显示出高水平的结构和功能多样性以及可塑性，而表观遗传机制在调节这些过程中起着至关重要的作用。从而，支气管上皮细胞不同的功能活性参与不同哮喘表型和/或疾病阶段的发展是很合理的。在这篇评论文章中将讨论有关该主题的当前知识。