on the horizon
By Sarah Grace Smith
Asthma Treatment Trials Give Hope Long-term protection against asthma successful in mice
F
or many, asthma poses a lifetime challenge. While treatment can help to manage symptoms, there is no known cure. A new experimental vaccine, however, may offer those with chronic lung disease hope for a longterm treatment. Asthma affects around 260 million people worldwide and is linked to over 250,000 deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization. The CDC labels it as one of the most common long-term diseases of children and has even noted asthma’s relationship to school absenteeism. A treatment designed for long-term impact could benefit those affected throughout the course of their lives rather than in response to flare-ups. 40
Inhalers can reduce symptoms but require frequent administration and are often not enough for those with moderate to severe asthma. Another treatment called dupilumab was approved in the United States in 2018 as a treatment for moderate to severe asthma but it requires expensive, repeat injections. In essence, people with asthma have yet to receive an effective and affordable long-term treatment. In response to this problem, researchers from Inserm, Institut Pasteur and the French company Neovacs, coled by senior author Laurent Reber of the Institut Pasteur, created a vaccine called a kinoid, a trademarked technology of Neovacs. Kinoids have previously been used in the treatment of lupus.
“The idea is to set up in the future a preventive approach for populations at risk of developing a severe form of asthma,” researcher Laurent Guilleminault says in La Dépêche, a newspaper based in Toulouse, France. The trial takes a novel approach by focusing on the cause of asthma. Typically, allergic asthma results from an inflammation of the bronchial tubes and respiratory difficulties brought about by allergens such as dust mites. The experimental treatment would actually function as a vaccine against those allergens. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications this May. In the trial, researchers found evidence that their vaccine treatment could protect against chronic allergic asthma in mice. www.healthynewalbanymagazine.com
