Culprit behind severe allergic asthma discovered
August 30th, 2010 - 12:35 pm ICT by ANILondon, Aug 30 (ANI): Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have identified the key culprit behind severe asthma-like symptoms in mice.
The disease can be triggered in susceptible people by a variety of environmental contaminants - such as cigarette smoke, allergens and airborne pollution.
Dr. Marsha Wills-Karp and her colleagues have identified the pro-inflammatory protein, interleukin-17 (IL-17A), as the molecular tipping point that upsets a delicate balance between underlying mild disease and more severe asthma, reports Nature.
Airway exposure to environmental allergens causes dysfunctional regulation of a gene called complement factor 3 (C3). This leads to overzealous production of IL-17A by airway cells and sets off what the scientists describe as an “amplification loop,” when IL-17A in turn induces more C3 production at the airway surface.
The amplification loop perpetuates increasing inflammatory responses as well as airway hyper-responsiveness and airflow obstruction.
As the team continues their research, they will study the relationship between C3 and IL-17A in severe asthmatics, and explore the effectiveness of targeting either the C3 or IL-17A pathways for the treatment of severe asthma.
The study is published in the latest Nature Immunology. (ANI)
- Asthma linked to bacterial communities in the airway - Feb 18, 2011
- Biodiversity loss can trigger rising allergy levels - May 08, 2012
- Four novel biomarkers that may help diagnose asthma, COPD identified - Mar 12, 2011
- Delayed symptoms ravage asthmatics - Aug 14, 2011
- New signaling pathway linked to inflammatory disease discovered - Dec 15, 2010
- Allergies 'may not be cause of asthma' - Aug 31, 2010
- Allergies 'a consequence of asthma, not cause of it' - Sep 24, 2010
- New drug target for inflammatory bowel disease found - Apr 01, 2011
- Vitamin D may help asthmatics - Sep 09, 2010
- Gene linked to childhood asthma identified - Dec 24, 2009
- Indian origin boffin's discovery may lead to powerful new asthma treatment - Aug 12, 2009
- Genetic variants that cause asthma identified - Sep 23, 2010
- Protein that may fight against inflammatory disease identified - Oct 21, 2010
- How reovirus kills cancer cells - Feb 21, 2011
- Indian-origin scientist suggests use of CT scans for severe asthma - Jun 15, 2010
Tags: airborne pollution, airflow obstruction, allergens, allergic asthma, asthma reports, asthmatics, cigarette smoke, cincinnati children, complement factor, delicate balance, environmental allergens, environmental contaminants, factor 3, hospital medical center, inflammatory protein, inflammatory responses, interleukin, mild disease, nature immunology, s hospital