Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Researchers at Cardiff University in the UK have reportedly pinpointed the genetic cause of asthma for the first time: a receptor known as the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) responsible for symptoms such as narrowing of the airway and inflammation.
The discovery, which is detailed in a paper published earlier this week in the journal Science Transitional Medicine, means that the condition could theoretically be treated with an existing group of drugs called calcilytics, UPI and BBC News reported on Thursday.
“Our findings are incredibly exciting,” lead investigator Daniela Riccardi, a professor at the Cardiff University School of Biosciences, said in a statement. “For the first time, we have found a link airways inflammation, which can be caused by environmental triggers – such as allergens, cigarette smoke, and car fumes – and airways twitchiness in allergic asthma.”
A potentially “life changing” breakthrough
In their study, Riccardi and her colleagues explored the respiratory disorder using airway models of both humans and mice, and with tissues obtained from both people with asthma and without it. Their analysis revealed that those aforementioned environmental triggers release chemicals that activate CaSR in airway tissue, causing asthma-related symptoms to surface.
By using calcilytics nebulized directly into a person’s lungs, the researchers are confident that they can deactivate the receptor, thus preventing those symptoms from occurring. Calcilytics were developed about 15 years ago to treat osteoporosis by strengthening bone with the release of an anabolic hormone. However, they proved unsuccessful in treating osteoporosis.
Dr. Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, called the findings “hugely exciting” and potentially “life changing” for the five percent of the nearly 300 million people worldwide who suffer from asthma and do not respond well to existing treatments. This could potentially help “hundreds of thousands of people,” she said.
“If this research proves successful, we may be just a few years away from a new treatment for asthma, and we urgently need further investment to take it further through clinical trials,” Dr. Walker added. She went on to call asthma research “chronically underfunded,” noting that there have only been “a handful of new treatments” for asthma developed over the last 50 years.
Professor Riccardi and her colleagues will now attempt to secure enough funding to launch human trials involving calcilytics within the next two years. Provided her team can prove that the drugs are safe when administered directly into a person’s lungs, she believes that the therapy may be able to treat patients and prevent asthma from happening within the next five years.
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