Asthma: New drug in prospect
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichCough, shortness of breath and shortness of breath - asthma makes life difficult for many people. But that could soon be over. British researchers have successfully tested a new drug in animal models that could soon be on the market.
Over 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, i.e. chronically inflamed airways. Prof. Daniela Riccardi from Cardiff University and her team believe they have discovered a new option to combat respiratory disease. The foundation for this is formed by a group of active ingredients that are already on the market, albeit against osteoporosis: calcilytics.
It has long been known that calcilytics also affect the airways as a side effect. Riccardi and her colleagues have now tested these on human tissue from asthmatics and healthy people, as well as asthmatic mice. The calcilytics developed astonishing effects: Among other things, they alleviated the inflammation and reversed the narrowing of the airways.
Receptors as an interface
Calcium sensing receptors (CaSR) are the starting point for calcilytics. These receptors are found in particularly high numbers in the tissues of asthmatics, where they cause hypersensitivity to external stimuli. The result is, among other things, increased inflammation. It is precisely these receptors that the calcilytics block. "We were able to show that the use of calcilytics, which are sprayed directly into the lungs, deactivates the CaSR and prevents the symptoms," says Riccardi.
In addition, the scientists have for the first time found a connection between inflammation in the airways and environmental factors such as allergens, smoke and car exhaust fumes. It is precisely these “stimuli” that release chemical compounds in the tissue, which in turn activate the receptors and trigger asthmatic complaints. "This is why our results are incredibly exciting," says Riccardi. The researchers came up with the connection because they found a lot of CaSR not only in the respiratory tissue of asthmatics: mice that were sensitized to an allergen also expressed these receptors to an increased extent as a result.
Calcilytics - Drugs of the Future?
Calcilytika was originally developed against bone loss. The orally administered drug was considered safe and well tolerated - unfortunately, it did not work very well against osteoporosis. The present study suggests that calcilytics could soon find a new application. "If we can show that the drug is safe when given straight to the lungs, we could be treating patients and possibly even preventing asthma before it even occurs in five years." Riccardi believes.
Dr. Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Policy at Asthma UK is convinced of the results: "This extremely exciting discovery enables us, for the first time, to directly address the root causes of asthma symptoms." Five percent of asthmatics do not respond to current treatments, therefore, such a breakthrough in research could change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, she adds.
Inflamed airways
Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammation of the airways. Those affected have hypersensitive airways. Your bronchi are very sensitive to certain stimuli such as animal hair, house dust or stress. The consequences are recurrent attacks of shortness of breath, coughing and shortness of breath.
Sources:
Cardiff University press release of April 23, 2015
Yarova Polina et al .: Calcium-sensing receptor antagonists abrogate airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation in allergic asthma. Science Translational Medicine. DOI: 10.1126 / scitranslmed.aaa0282
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