asthma according to the degree of severity.

context of severe asthma. Identifying the neutrophil survival factor(s) present in this patient group is clearly an important next step and, if targetable, may form the basis of a new therapeutic approach for this difficult-to-treat patient group. While this study provides further evidence that neutrophil apoptosis may be deregulated in severe asthma, a number of key questions remain. We need to understand the dynamics of cell migration into and out of the airway wall and deter-mine the true residency times and the rela-tive contribution of apoptosis and, indeed, other non-apoptotic death mechanisms such as autophagy, NETosis28 and cytolysis in granulocyte clearance. We also need to understand the signals that block apoptosis in the airwaywall (yet seemingly not in the airway lumen)and todeterminewhatdrives the switch from eosinophil- to neutrophil-dominated inflammation. Drugs which target the removal rather than the arrival of granulocytes in tissues are now emerging,29 and such agents may offer an important adjunct to current asthma treatments