Obesity is one of the comorbidities in patients with asthma and obese patients with asthma present with a distinct phenotype with more severe disease outcomes and reduced responsiveness to standard therapies. Although the full mechanisms of obesity‑related asthma are still not completely understood, abnormal immune responses have been demonstrated to have a critical role in asthma pathogenesis. The present review summarizes the data from clinical, epidemiological and animal studies to provide an updated understanding of the immune responses in obesity‑related asthma, as well as the effect of various factors, such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, genetics and epigenetics, on asthmatic inflammation. Further studies on the in‑depth mechanisms are still required to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for patients with asthma combined with obesity.
Keywords: T helper 2; airway hyperresponsiveness; airway inflammation; body mass index; high‑fat diet; immune response; nitric oxide; obesity‑related asthma; reactive oxygen species.