Introduction:

Bronchial asthma is a much more complex disease than initially thought; it is multifactorial and manifests itself in different clinical phenotypes; among them, we can mention neutrophilic asthma.

Objective:

To characterize neutrophilic asthma from a clinical and immunological point of view.

Material and methods:

An updated bibliographic review was made. Google Scholar search engine was used; free access articles were consulted in PubMed and SciELO databases and 50 of them were reviewed.

Development:

Neutrophils are present in the respiratory tract of patients suffering from asthma; once those neutrophils are activated, they can release mediators that promote and prolong the symptoms of the disease. The presence of neutrophils can be mediated by IL-17. The hypothesis on changes in the microbiota, obesity and infections are key points in this kind of disease. To alleviate the symptoms of these patients, targeted therapy for neutrophil-dominated inflammation is needed.

Conclusions:

Neutrophilic asthma is a phenotypically heterogeneous chronic disease of the respiratory tract which involves numerous inflammatory cells and more than a hundred mediators with multiple inflammatory effects such as bronchospasm, plasma exudation, mucus hypersecretion and sensory activation. Currently, there are few drugs targeting neutrophilic inflammation and most of them are under study with the aim of alleviating and improving the living conditions in patients suffering from this disease.

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