Taken from DailyRx.

A team of researchers at McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton have successfully evaluated a new, antibody–based drug for certain patients with severe asthma. The drug – named mepolizumab – can replace traditional, steroid–based treatments for a specific subset of patients, resulting in improved outcomes and reduced side effects. The study and manuscript, published in the New England Journal of Medicine was led in Canada by Dr. Parameswaran Nair, staff respirologist, Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and professor of respirology at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. Dr. Nair and his colleagues recruited the largest number of participants for this global study.

Taken from McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences News

Children who receive antibiotics before their first birthday might be at a slightly increased risk of developing asthma. However, new research by The University of Manchester suggests that it is impaired viral immunity and genetic variants on a region of chromosome 17 that increase the risk of both antibiotic use in early life and later asthma rather than the antibiotics themselves, as previously thought. 

Importantly, the study, which was funded by the Medical Research Council and J P Moulton Charitable Foundation did not find a link between early antibiotic prescription and the development of allergic reactions. The findings, reported in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, contradict the prevailing theory that early antibiotic exposure, via changes in gut flora, alters the development of a child’s immune system, increasing susceptibility to allergic asthma later on.

Taken from The University of Manchester News

A new study carried out by researchers at Sanford–Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford–Burnham), the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (Germany), the Free University of Berlin (Germany), UC San Diego, and Shinshu University (Japan) has identified a novel molecule that prevents T–cells from orchestrating asthma brought on by allergens. The findings, published on May 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), show promise for a new potent therapeutic agent to treat asthma, a chronic disease affecting more than 25 million Americans. 

“We have identified a synthetic molecule, a sulfate monosaccharide, that inhibits the signal that recruits T–cells to the lungs to start an asthma attack,” said Minoru Fukuda, Ph.D., adjunct professor in the Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis Program at Sanford–Burnham. “The molecule substantially lessened asthma symptoms such as inflammation, mucus production, and airway constriction.” The study, performed in mouse models for asthma research, showed that the synthetic sulfate monosaccharide blocks the interaction between chemokine CCL20—a T–cell signaling protein—and heparin sulfate, a molecule that protects and immobilizes CCL20 on epithelial cells in the lung. Blocking this interaction stalled the recruitment of the T–cells that trigger inflammation. The favorable results were achieved when the novel molecule was administered intravenously as well as by inhalation.


Taken from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute News

Smooth muscle abnormalities in developing airways may be overlooked factor in asthma. A team of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) investigators led by Wellington V. Cardoso, MD, PhD, has found the first direct evidence of a link between prenatal vitamin A deficiency and postnatal airway hyperresponsiveness, a hallmark of asthma. 

The study, conducted in mice, shows that short–term deficit of this essential vitamin while the lung is forming can cause profound changes in the smooth muscle that surrounds the airways, causing the adult lungs to respond to environmental or pharmacological stimuli with excessive narrowing of airways. The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

"Researchers have long wondered what makes some people more susceptible than others to developing asthma symptoms when exposed to the same stimulus," said Dr. Cardoso, senior author, director of the new Columbia Center for Human Development, and a faculty member in the Division of Pulmonary Allergy Clinical Care Medicine. "Our study suggests that the presence of structural and functional abnormalities in the lungs due to vitamin A deficiency during development is an important and underappreciated factor in this susceptibility."

Taken from EurekAlert!