A cure for asthma could be on the horizon after scientists discovered
a protein that is the root cause of a condition that blights the lives
of more than five millions Brits.
Experts
have described the breakthrough as "hugely exciting" and say it could
lead to a class of drugs originally developed for osteoporosis reversing
narrowing, twitchiness and inflammation in the lungs - all of which
contribute to increased breathing difficulties.
Experiments on
mice and human airway tissue from asthmatics and healthy people
identified the gene CaSR (calcium sensing receptor) as causing asthma
that affects 300 million people across the world
Professor
Daniela Riccardi, of Cardiff University, said: "Our findings are
incredibly exciting. For the first time we have found a link between
airways inflammation which can be caused by environmental triggers - such as allergens, cigarette smoke and car fumes - and airways twitchiness in allergic asthma.
"Our
paper shows how these triggers release chemicals that activate CaSR in
airway tissue and drive asthma symptoms like airway twitchiness,
inflammation and narrowing. Using calcilytics - nebulized directly into
the lungs - we show it's possible to deactivate CaSR and prevent all of
these symptoms.
SUNDAY MERCURY
"If we replicate our study in human clinical trials it will
be better than any drugs either out there already or being worked on. We
are talking about a cure - and we hope this could happen in five or six
years."
Prof Riccardi had spent most of her career studying
osteoporosis and came across the protein's mystery role "completely out
of the blue" when she began working on asthma only five years ago.
Calcilytics
were first developed for the treatment of osteoporosis around 15 years
ago with the aim of strengthening deteriorating bone by targeting CaSR
to induce the release of an anabolic hormone.
But although clinically safe and well tolerated in people they proved unsuccessful in treating the bone wasting disease.
But
the latest findings, published in the journal Science Translational
Medicine, has provided researchers with the unique opportunity to
re-purpose these drugs - potentially accelerating the time it takes for
them to be approved for use in asthma patients.
Asthma
1.1million
Lost days to breathing problems in 2008/09
Prof Riccadi said: "We need about £10 million for the patient trials and are talking to potential investors. "It
sounds a lot of money, but when you consider how many people asthma
affects - and the cost of treating it - it's a drop in the ocean."
The
NHS spends around £1 billion a year treating and caring for people with
asthma. In 2008/09 up to 1.1 million working days were lost due to
breathing or lung problems. Once funding has been secured the
researchers aim to be carrying out clinical trials on humans within two
years.
Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at
Asthma UK who part-funded the research, said: "This hugely exciting
discovery enables us - for the first time - to tackle the underlying
causes of asthma symptoms.
"Five per cent of people with asthma
don't respond to current treatments so research breakthroughs could be
life changing for hundreds of thousands of people.
"If this
research proves successful we may be just a few years away from a new
treatment for asthma and we urgently need further investment to take it
further through clinical trials.
"Asthma research is chronically
underfunded; there have only been a handful of new treatments developed
in the last 50 years so the importance of investment in research like
this is absolutely essential."
PA
While asthma is well controlled in some people around
one-in-twelve respond poorly to current drugs - accounting for around
90% of healthcare costs associated with the condition.
Study
co-author Professor Paul Kemp said the identification of CaSR in airway
tissue means the potential for treatment of other inflammatory lung
diseases beyond asthma is immense.
These include chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis for which
currently there exists no cure. It's predicted by 2020 these diseases
will be the third biggest killers worldwide.
Prof Riccardi and
her colleagues are now seeking funding to determine the efficacy of
calcilytic drugs on especially difficult to treat asthmas - particularly
those resistant to steroids or exacerbated by influenza - and to test
them on patients.
She said: "If we can prove calcilytics are safe
when administered directly to the lung in people then in five years we
could be in a position to treat patients and potentially stop asthma
from happening in the first place."
Post a Comment