HomeDate: 2025-07-31
Neutrophilic asthma remains poorly responsive to current therapies. This study reveals that stem cell factor (SCF) expression in asthma patients positively correlates with neutrophilic airway inflammation. Using mouse models, the team discovered that SCF, primarily secreted by lung fibroblasts, activates group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s), thereby promoting neutrophilic inflammation.
Genetic and pharmacological approaches further confirmed that deleting the SCF receptor, c-Kit, or treating with the pharmacological inhibitor imatinib, significantly reduced airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity in mice.
This study identified SCF/c-Kit axis as a key driver of ILC3-mediated neutrophilic asthma, emerging as a novel therapeutic target.
The study was led by Dr. Ya-Jen Chang and PhD student Jheng-Syuan Shao from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, in collaboration with Dr. Wei-Chang Huang of Taichung Veterans General Hospital. This research was supported by Academia Sinica and National Science and Technology Council, and was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on July 17, 2025.
