The term asthma refers to a spectrum of wheezing syndromes resulting from airways
inflammation triggered by a range of environmental stimuli, the most important of which are
aeroallergens and viruses. We describe below a model for the cause of atopic asthma in
which discrete sets of developmental factors governing the postnatal maturation of the
immune and respiratory systems play central and complementary roles in disease causality.
Within the immune system, the relevant developmental processes involve maturation of TH1 …