Asthmatic airways are more sensitive to burn pit smoke particles

This study sought to examine whether mild preexisting allergic airways disease enhances the response of the lungs to burn pit smoke emissions. The findings indicate that exposure to house dust mite (HDM) antigen sensitizes the mouse lungs to make them more susceptible to burn pit smoke-induced dysfunction, in both the inflammatory response to burn pit smoke and in the accumulation of airway mucus. This suggests that changes in cilia and mucociliary clearance (MCC) induced by asthma that are amplified by inhalation of burn pit smoke, followed by a feedback loop of enhanced inflammation induced by the accumulating mucus, appears a likely mechanism. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Belfield-Simpson, L., J. Martin, M.K. McPeek, A. Livraghi-Butrico, H. Dang, Y.H. Kim, I. Gilmour, and C. Doerschuk. Combustion products of burn pit constituents induce more changes in asthmatic than non-asthmatic murine lungs. Particle and Fibre Toxicology. BioMed Central Ltd, London, UK, 22: 21, (2025).

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[
  "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-025-00625-w",
  "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12305933"
]