Table 1 Differences in histopathology between asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) airways

	Asthma	COPD
Mast cells	Increased and activated	Normal
Dendritic cells	Increased	Uncertain
Eosinophils	Increased	Normal
Neutrophils	Normal	Increased
Lymphocytes	Th2	Th1, Tc1
Epithelium	Often shed	Pseudostratified
Goblet cells	Increased	Increased
Airway smooth muscle	Increased	Minimal increase
Airway vessels	Increased	Not increased
Fibrosis	Subepithelial	Peribronchiolar

Th: T-helper; Tc: T-cytotoxic.