Paediatric Virology and its interaction between basic science and clinical practice (Review)

Mammas, Ioannis N.; Greenough, Anne; Theodoridou, Maria; Kramvis, Anna; Rusan, Maria; Melidou, Angeliki; Korovessi, Paraskevi; Papaioannou, Georgia; Papatheodoropoulou, Alexia; Koutsaftiki, Chryssie; Liston, Maria; Sourvinos, George; Spandidos, Demetrios A.

To date, there is increasing evidence to indicate that RV, the most frequent cause of the common cold in children, can replicate in the lower respiratory tract and can cause exacerbations of asthma (97, 103) . Certain features of infection with RV, including the stimulation of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-13 and eotaxin production; the immigration of inflammatory cells (eosinophils, macrophages and neutrophils); and subsequent increases in factors considered important for airway remodeling (such as NO and vascular endothelial growth factor), point to the likelihood that RV infection is asthmatogenic (106) . Given the burden of asthma, it is of utmost importance that future scientific attempts reveal in detail the causality between viral infections and asthmatogenesis. Thus, better asthma-predictive indices can be developed and more effective strategies for asthma prevention can be scheduled, including research for effective vaccines.