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The End of Asthma?; Medical Notes
Evening Standard - London
08-17-06
THE announcement that British scientists have identified a deficiency in the lining of the lungs of people with asthma that renders them particularly susceptible to coughs and colds could prove a turning point in the ongoing battle against a disease which now affects more than five million people in the UK. It's a major breakthrough that is likely to result in the first real new treatments for 30 years, and possibly, one day, even a vaccine.
Inflammation of the delicate lining of the lungs following exposure to inhaled allergens, pollutants and viruses is the primary cause of asthma, with the resulting congestion and narrowing of the airways causing the cardinal symptoms of cough, wheeze and shortness of breath.
Up until now, treatment, for all but the mildest cases, has centred on the use of anti-inflammatory " preventers" such as steroid inhalers, but we have reached the end of the line in terms of their development. While today's anti-inflammatories are significant advances on their forbears developed in the Sixties and Seventies, they are not that much more effective, and around half of all people's asthma in the UK today remains poorly controlled.
One-in-six experiences a severe attack (one that leaves them so breathless they struggle to speak) at least once a week and around 1,400 people die from the condition every year - 40 of whom are children.
The reason this new discovery is so exciting is that it could explain why people with asthma develop the inflammation in the first place. The team of researchers, led by Professor Sebastian Johnson of London's Imperial College, have discovered that people with asthma are deficient in a protein that protects the lining of their lungs from day-today threats - in this case a family of viruses responsible for the common cold.
Put simply, while most of us shrug off such infections, the weakened local defences in the lungs of someone with asthma allow the virus to trigger inflammation and asthma attacks - an all too familiar scenario to any parent taking little Johnny to their GP because "the cold has gone to his chest".
And it is not just viruses that are implicated. Weakened frontline defences could explain the lung's abnormal reaction to a range of possible triggers - from the infamous house dust mite and traffic fumes, to indoor "pollutants" such as bleaches, air fresheners and cooking in our modern hermetically-sealed homes.
The next step is to deliver the missing protein into the lungs to see if that helps, something that could theoretically be done by a new breed of inhaler. And beyond that it may even be possible to develop treatments that switch on production of the missing protein, normalising the lining of the lungs and "curing" asthma. The latter could be offered to young children and form the basis of the elusive asthma vaccine.
All of this is at least five to 10 years away - isn't it, always? - but we shouldn't let that detract from the significance of the Imperial College team's discovery. At the very worst it's likely to revolutionise our understanding of the root causes of asthma, and at best it could transform the outlook for the one in 12 adults and one in 10 children who currently depend on some form of existing asthma medication.
. For more information on all aspects of asthma visit Invalid Link Removed
Evening Standard - London
08-17-06
THE announcement that British scientists have identified a deficiency in the lining of the lungs of people with asthma that renders them particularly susceptible to coughs and colds could prove a turning point in the ongoing battle against a disease which now affects more than five million people in the UK. It's a major breakthrough that is likely to result in the first real new treatments for 30 years, and possibly, one day, even a vaccine.
Inflammation of the delicate lining of the lungs following exposure to inhaled allergens, pollutants and viruses is the primary cause of asthma, with the resulting congestion and narrowing of the airways causing the cardinal symptoms of cough, wheeze and shortness of breath.
Up until now, treatment, for all but the mildest cases, has centred on the use of anti-inflammatory " preventers" such as steroid inhalers, but we have reached the end of the line in terms of their development. While today's anti-inflammatories are significant advances on their forbears developed in the Sixties and Seventies, they are not that much more effective, and around half of all people's asthma in the UK today remains poorly controlled.
One-in-six experiences a severe attack (one that leaves them so breathless they struggle to speak) at least once a week and around 1,400 people die from the condition every year - 40 of whom are children.
The reason this new discovery is so exciting is that it could explain why people with asthma develop the inflammation in the first place. The team of researchers, led by Professor Sebastian Johnson of London's Imperial College, have discovered that people with asthma are deficient in a protein that protects the lining of their lungs from day-today threats - in this case a family of viruses responsible for the common cold.
Put simply, while most of us shrug off such infections, the weakened local defences in the lungs of someone with asthma allow the virus to trigger inflammation and asthma attacks - an all too familiar scenario to any parent taking little Johnny to their GP because "the cold has gone to his chest".
And it is not just viruses that are implicated. Weakened frontline defences could explain the lung's abnormal reaction to a range of possible triggers - from the infamous house dust mite and traffic fumes, to indoor "pollutants" such as bleaches, air fresheners and cooking in our modern hermetically-sealed homes.
The next step is to deliver the missing protein into the lungs to see if that helps, something that could theoretically be done by a new breed of inhaler. And beyond that it may even be possible to develop treatments that switch on production of the missing protein, normalising the lining of the lungs and "curing" asthma. The latter could be offered to young children and form the basis of the elusive asthma vaccine.
All of this is at least five to 10 years away - isn't it, always? - but we shouldn't let that detract from the significance of the Imperial College team's discovery. At the very worst it's likely to revolutionise our understanding of the root causes of asthma, and at best it could transform the outlook for the one in 12 adults and one in 10 children who currently depend on some form of existing asthma medication.
. For more information on all aspects of asthma visit Invalid Link Removed
