Friday, March 29, 2024
News

Researchers find new ways to treat seasonal asthma

   SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

Washington | March 27, 2022 11:52:45 PM IST
New ways to treat seasonal asthma has been studied by researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology recently.

The findings of the study were published in the journal 'Science Immunology'.

"Asthma has no cure and current treatments primarily focus on resolving the symptoms," said Ben Ulrich, PhD, lead author of the study. "While spending time in the high-risk asthma clinic at Riley Hospital for Children, I observed many patients had a more intermittent disease course. We went into the lab and developed models to more accurately define allergic memory and recall response in the lung."

When someone with seasonal or intermittent asthma breathes in allergens, they can have symptoms such as wheezing, coughing and, in severe cases, asthmatic exacerbation or hospitalization. These symptoms result from inflammation, airway constriction, and mucus production.

Once exposed to the seasonal allergens, which include exposure to pollens, fungi or other allergens only prevalent at certain times of the year, antigen-presenting cells activate CD4 positive T-cells to secrete cytokines, starting inflammatory cascades. The team looked at one cytokine, called interleukin 9 (IL-9), to see how it impacts allergic memory responses.

They found a unique population of memory CD4 T-cells that produced IL-9, along with IL-5 and IL-13. These cells secreted IL-9 in an antigen-specific manner. Additionally, these cells express ST2, which is an IL-33 receptor, and demonstrated amplified IL-9 production in the presence of IL-33 in an allergen-specific manner.

Blockade of IL-9 led to a decrease in the expression of several genes associated with mucus production in the epithelial cells. It also led to a decrease in CD4 T-cells and B-cells and altered expression of activation markers on microphages.

"Asthma exists in multiple forms and seasonal or intermittent asthma can be very different from other forms because of chronic exposure to allergens," said Mark Kaplan, PhD, chair of the IU School of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology and senior author of the study. "This study demonstrates targeting IL-9 in the lungs during seasonal allergies could help with lung inflammation. By focusing on a population of memory cells that mediate the allergic recall responses of the lungs, we could develop new targets for treatments." (ANI)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS ()
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
 
MORE SCIENCE NEWS
AI technique accurately predicts deadly ...
Researchers discover new approach to tre...
Researchers discover how gene mutation r...
Climate change disrupts vital ecosystems...
Study finds how ageing reduces ability o...
Israeli researchers uncover biological p...
More...
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
'My father was being given slow poison; ...
Chennai: Three dead after false ceiling ...
Jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhta...
Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena releases first...
Uttar Pradesh: Security tightened in Ali...
'A closed chapter now...': BJP leader Di...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
Columbia expels Argentina's diploma... 
Bunker demand surges in Sri Lankan ... 
Allu Arjun unveils his wax statue a... 
Elena Rybakina fends off Victoria A... 
Danielle Collins downs Ekaterina Al... 
"Absolutely baseless": Former UP DG... 
Grigor Dimitrov ousts top-seeded Ca... 
Telangana: Fire breaks out at vehic...