CD8+ T cells characterize early smoking-related airway pathology in patients with asthma

Smoking asthmatics with a limited smoking history show a distinct pattern of airway pathology characterized by a bronchial infiltrate of CD8+ T cells and CD68+ macrophages, and epithelial remodelling resembling COPD-like features. This raises the hypothesis that early presence of CD8+ T cells contributes to disease progression in smoking asthmatics.