TY - JOUR T1 - Mast cells in asthma: biomarker and therapeutic target JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1040 LP - 1042 DO - 10.1183/13993003.00065-2016 VL - 47 IS - 4 AU - Laurent L. Reber AU - John V. Fahy Y1 - 2016/04/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/47/4/1040.abstract N2 - The heterogeneity of asthma phenotypes represents a challenge for adequate assessment and treatment of the disease [1]. The molecular analysis of highly characterised cohorts of asthma patients should help to identify biomarkers of asthma subtypes, which might lead to more efficient and personalised therapies for asthma [1, 2]. So far, asthma has been mainly divided into two subtypes: T-helper cell type 2 (Th2)-high asthma, which comprises patients with airway and systemic eosinophilia who are responsive to glucocorticoids; and Th2-low asthma, which comprises patients without airway or systemic eosinophilia who are not responsive to glucocorticoids [3]. Besides eosinophilia, patients with Th2-high asthma have other signs of airway type 2 inflammation, including increased numbers of airway mast cells [4].Mast cell numbers or activity levels could help identify asthma subtypes and be relevant for treatment effectiveness http://ow.ly/Xmanp ER -