Asthma could be over in five years

24 April 2015 - 02:01 By ©The Daily Telegraph

Asthma could be cured within five years after scientists found what causes the condition and how to switch it off. In a breakthrough that could change the lives of millions of sufferers, researchers at Cardiff University and King's College London identified which cells cause the airways to narrow when triggered by irritants like pollution.Crucially, drugs that can deactivate the cells already exist. They are known as calcilytics and are used to treat people with osteoporosis.Said Daniela Riccardi, a professor at the Cardiff University School of Biosciences: "I n five years we could be in a position to treat patients and potentially stop asthma from happening in the first place."Scientists knew that asthma is caused by inflammation in the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs, but they did not know what triggered it.Experiments on airway tissue from mice and humans showed that calcium-sensing receptor cells - which detect changes in the environment - go into overdrive in asthmatics, triggering airway twitching, inflammation and narrowing.But when calcilytic drugs are inhaled, they deactivate the cells and stop all symptoms.Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: "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."The discovery could also pave the way for new treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis. It is predicted that by 2020 these diseases will be the third-biggest killer worldwide.The research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. ..

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