Anti-asthma cells found

Tuesday August 23rd, 2016

Scientists have identified beneficial forms of white blood cell that could help control asthma, it has been announced.

The Belgian researchers say their findings offer "promising" opportunities for developing new ways to treat asthma.

They have been studying the eosinophils that contribute to the inflammation that causes asthma.

They say they have now found a sub-group of these cells, called resident eosinophils, found in the lungs of healthy people and responsible for regulating and protecting the organ.

They have reported their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The cells were first found in laboratory mice and then confirmed in human studies.

The researchers say their findings might apply to other diseases such as food allergies and Crohn's disease.

Researcher Professor Fabrice Bureau, from the University of Liège, said: “Recent anti-asthmatic treatments by injection of interleukin-5 monoclonal antibodies have proven to be clinically effective, but it was not understood why they did not totally eradicate the eosinophils, whose survival and function depend on interleukine-5.

"In light of our study, we now understand that, in fact, they spared the good regulating lung-resident eosinophils that are not so dependent on Interleukin-5 and that is a very good thing.

“In the future, the question is to know how to facilitate the production of resident eosinophils, rather than inflammatory eosinophils, in the bone marrow. Indeed, by acting at the top of the cascade, we will have new weapons for the prevention of inflammatory diseases such as allergies or autoimmune diseases."

Lung-resident eosinophils represent a distinct regulatory eosinophil subset. JCI 22 August 2016

Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Europe

Printer friendly page