On The Horizon

Asthma Treatment Trials Give Hope

Long-term protection against asthma successful in mice

For 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.

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.

After being exposed to allergens, allergic asthma produces antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE), interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 13 (IL-13) in the airways. The antibodies lead to what we know as an asthma attack in which the airways become inflamed, excess mucus is produced and a person suffers from difficulty of breath.

The vaccine works to prevent the production of IL-4 and IL-13.

“We hypothesized that a dual vaccination against IL-4 and IL-13 would be particularly potent at reducing the severity of chronic asthma,” the study says.

The preliminary trials of testing in mice proved successful in producing antibodies to fight the allergens as much as a year after the initial treatment. Ninety percent of mice presented high levels of antibodies against IL-4 and IL-13 six weeks after the vaccine and 60 percent one year after. What’s more, the mice showed zero side effects.

The vaccine was also shown to improve asthma symptoms such as the overproduction of mucus and hyperresponsiveness of airways when presented with allergens. The research found evidence it could reduce or stop asthma attacks.

The next step in the research is to conduct clinical trials with humans. Other large trials for asthma vaccines have failed in the past five years, but Reber and colleagues believe that these trials failed because they only targeted IL-13 and not IL-4 as well.

Guilleminault and Neovacs are currently organizing a clinical trial and expecting that the first human injection will happen within the next two years.

Although this study on its own can’t determine that the vaccine will work as well in humans, it is promising. Researchers say the study shows “proof of concept” that their treatment can reduce the symptoms of asthma.

Sarah Grace Smith is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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