Correction: Budesonide promotes airway epithelial barrier integrity following double-stranded RNA challenge.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260706.].

Update on asthma biology.

This is an exciting time to be conducting asthma research. The recent development of targeted asthma biologics has validated the power of basic research to discover new molecules amenable to therapeutic intervention. Advances in high-throughput sequencing are providing a wealth of "omics" data about genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of asthma, as well as about new cellular interacting networks and potential endotypes in asthma. Airway epithelial cells have emerged not only as key sensors of the outside environment but also as central drivers of dysregulated mucosal immune responses in asthma. Emerging data suggest that the airway epithelium in asthma remembers prior encounters with environmental exposures, resulting in potentially long-lasting changes in structure and metabolism that render asthmatic individuals susceptible to subsequent exposures. Here we summarize recent insights into asthma biology, focusing on studies using human cells or tissue that were published in the past 2 years. The studies are organized thematically into 6 content areas to draw connections and spur future research (on genetics and epigenetics, prenatal and early-life origins, microbiome, immune and inflammatory pathways, asthma endotypes and biomarkers, and lung structural alterations). We highlight recent studies of airway epithelial dysfunction and response to viral infections and conclude with a framework for considering how bidirectional interactions between alterations in airway structure and mucosal immunity can lead to sustained lung dysfunction in asthma.

Examining the impact of air pollution, climate change, and social determinants of health on asthma and environmental justice.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, we discuss the current literature examining the impact air pollution and climate change has on asthma onset, control, and exacerbation. This review also addresses the risk of exposure to specific disproportionately affected communities, highlighting health disparities in exposure and asthma outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent studies have shifted from highlighting the associations between asthma exacerbations and indoor and outdoor air pollution. Studies are now focused on confirming the association of asthma incidence from these same exposures. Many studies have linked particulate matter to adverse asthma outcomes, however, the pollutant exposures that pose the greatest risk and the effect of natural disasters fueled by climate change are under current study. Some studies have observed that the true burden that pollutant exposures have on asthma outcomes occurs at the intersection of exposure and vulnerability. Future studies in this area will address social determinants of health, societal factors such as redlining and other systemic racism practices. SUMMARY: Although decades of research support the causal link between gaseous and particulate air pollution and the exacerbation of preexisting asthma, recent studies suggest air pollution can cause incident (new onset) asthma. Studies have started to focus on the underlying drivers of poor outcomes in asthma. Many of the structural impediments to high quality asthma care at the society level (e.g. poverty, redlining, systemic racism) also are risk factors for worsened climate events and air pollution exposure. The individuals in these disproportionately affected groups are doubly affected by worsened exposure and worsened access to care for the resultant asthma exacerbations or incident asthma. More research is needed to understand the specific climate and air pollution mitigation efforts where disproportionately affected communities would derive the most benefit.