Advances and highlights in asthma in 2021

Last year brought a significant advance in asthma management, unyielding to the pressure of the pandemics. Novel key findings in asthma pathogenesis focus on the resident cell compartment, epigenetics and the innate immune system. The precision immunology unbiased approach was supplemented with novel tools and greatly facilitated by the use of artificial intelligence. Several randomised clinical trials and good quality real-world evidence shed new light on asthma treatment and supported the revision of several asthma guidelines (GINA, Expert Panel Report 3, ERS/ATS guidelines on severe asthma) and the conception of new ones (EAACI Guidelines for the use of biologicals in severe asthma). Integrating asthma management within the broader context of Planetary Health has been put forward. In this review, recently published articles and clinical trials are summarised and discussed with the goal to provide clinicians and researchers with a concise update on asthma research from a translational perspective.

Automated summary

The past year saw significant advancements in asthma management, with a focus on resident cell compartment, epigenetics, and the innate immune system. Utilization of novel tools and artificial intelligence greatly facilitated precise immunology research. Randomised clinical trials and real-world evidence shed new light on asthma treatment, prompting revisions to existing guidelines and the creation of new ones. Integrating asthma management into the broader context of Planetary Health was also proposed as a forward-looking approach.