Asthma sufferers, who live with the constant threat of an attack striking out of nowhere, may soon have a long-term solution thanks to groundbreaking research.
Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have developed a specific drug “cocktail” that promises to curb severe asthma flare-ups, potentially decreasing the reliance on inhalers for everyday symptom control among the 7 million UK residents living with this respiratory ailment.
Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, their innovative drug therapy was shown to halt the immune system’s excessive response to typical asthma triggers like pollen and dust. It even was shown to prevent attacks over a period of weeks after treatment.
The scientists created two distinct “cocktails” designed to inhibit crucial molecules responsible for sparking asthma incidents and dampen overall inflammation. The problematic molecules—ICOSL, OX40L, and CD30L—keep memory T cells in the lungs on high alert.
While typically these T cells are beneficial, preserving information about past infections to bolster your body’s defenses, in the case of those with asthma, they backfire, perpetuating inflammation and exacerbating attacks. By blocking these molecules, the treatment significantly lessens the presence of rogue T cells in the lungs, thereby slashing the frequency of asthma episodes and possibly delivering lasting respite.
A study conducted on mice has revealed that two distinct combinations of therapeutic drugs can effectively block molecules that trigger asthma. Without these molecules, memory T cells are unable to initiate an attack or cause future asthma, reports Surrey Live.
The treatment could involve a cocktail that inhibits the ICOSL and OX40L molecules, or one that inhibits ICOSL and CD30L. This discovery could significantly simplify doctors’ approach to treating persistent asthma, regardless of the allergen causing it.
Dr Gurupreet Sethi, who led the study, expressed optimism that this finding could lead to treatments tailored to each patient’s condition. They stated: “If we can target these molecules in human patients, they might be able to develop long-lasting tolerance to allergens.”
Medical News quotes Dr Michael Croft, another contributor to the research, as saying: “This study gives us insight into what could be two terrific options for helping asthma patients, but also might be applicable to other inflammatory diseases as well as autoimmune diseases.”
This research builds upon a groundbreaking 2022 study that discovered blocking OX40L and CD30L together could reduce asthma attacks in mice.
However, the LJI team suspected the medical picture could be more complex.
Researchers have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of asthma by examining lung cells from individuals with the condition. They discovered that not all T cells respond identically, with some playing a more prominent role in inflammation and not being affected by treatments proposed in 2022.
The team identified another molecule, ICOSL, as a key player in the process. “Memory T cells in the lungs are responsible for a patient’s long-lasting, exaggerated response to an allergen,” explained Sethi.
By targeting this molecule alongside OX40L or CD30L, they achieved an 80 to 90 per cent reduction in these T cells, compared to only 50 per cent without it. This substantial decrease shielded mice from asthma symptoms for weeks and stopped allergens from triggering attacks, effectively causing memory T cells to ‘forget’ the allergen.
Dr Sethi highlighted that the next phase is to eliminate the remaining allergic T cells and advance clinical trials involving humans. Croft added: “The idea is that if you can limit the number of memory T cells that remain in those tissues, you should be able to limit the extent of the inflammatory response, and you might be able to prevent future disease exacerbations. At present no approved drug treatment has been able to do this.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
