Amali Samarasinghe, PhD
Member Profile
Affiliation
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Specialty
Allergic Asthma, Murine Models, Influenza
Publications
- A comparison between intratracheal and inhalation delivery of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia in the development of fungal allergic asthma in C57BL/6 mice.
- The absence of VPAC2 leads to aberrant antibody production in Aspergillus fumigatus sensitized and challenged mice.
- The absence of the VPAC(2) receptor does not protect mice from Aspergillus induced allergic asthma.
- Spatio-temporal localization of vasoactive intestinal peptide and neutral endopeptidase in allergic murine lungs.
Research
Allergic asthma is a pulmonary disease with high global incidence and economic burden. Asthma was found to be an underlying disease in patients that were hospitalized during the 2009 influenza pandemic, although retrospective studies showed that fewer asthmatics died from influenza. We have created a murine model system to study influenza pathogenesis in the context of allergic asthma. Our preliminary findings suggest a role for eosinophils in promoting anti-viral immunity in the allergic host.
