Airway Discovery May Result In New Asthma Treatment
Last updated 17/06/2009 11:44:36
Airway Discovery May Result In New Asthma Treatment
Researchers have discovered a key reason why airways in the lungs of people with asthma change over time - a discovery which could lead to new treatments for millions of sufferers.
Scientists from the MRC and Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma investigated the changes in airways - a process called airway remodelling.
Professor Tak Lee and colleagues colleagues examined whether the defective movement of calcium might be responsible for the over-sensitivity and excessive contraction of muscle cells in asthma.
They studied the movement of calcium atoms in and out of muscle cells, and they believe that they have discovered how muscle cells in the lungs of people with asthma become twitchy and over-sensitive.
The movement of calcium in and out of muscle cells causes them to contract or relax.The amount of free-floating calcium in muscle cells is controlled by a series of channels and pumps that either increase or decrease calcium levels.
One of these pumps is called SERCA2. It causes muscle cells to relax by pumping calcium out of the main body of the cell. The investigations suggest that a lack of SERCA2 in airway muscle cells might play an important role in causing asthma symptoms.
Professor Lee suggests that replacing SERCA2 in these cells might be an effective way of creating new asthma treatments that reduce asthma symptoms and prevent the long-term lung changes that can make some people's asthma almost impossible to control.
Dr Elaine Vickers, from Asthma UK, said: "Professor Lee's detailed research into the causes of asthma symptoms provides us with vital clues as to how such symptoms could be stopped. He has uncovered important information, which we hope will lead to the creation of effective new treatments for the millions of the people in the UK affected by asthma symptoms."
For further information go to http://www.asthma.org.uk
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