New Way To Treat Asthma & Repair Irreversible Lung Tissue

A new way to treat asthma symptoms and even repair previously irreversible lung damage could be on the horizon.

A new study, according to the Medical Research Foundation, suggests avenues for new treatments that may have the potential to prevent disease progression and even reverse tissue scarring in asthma

Current treatments for asthma largely involve controlling the inflammation of lung tissue using steroid inhalers. However, four people die everyday in the UK from asthma related complications.

With funding from the Medical Research Foundation and Asthma + Lung UK, Dr Tara Sutherland from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Manchester has investigated the structural changes that occur in lung tissue as a result of asthma and has been able to reverse these changes in animal models.

Although still in the early stages of development, this paves the way for a new way to treat not only asthma, but many different diseases in which similar structural changes in tissues occur. These diseases account for approximately 40% of deaths worldwide and include conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver.

Irreversible Changes To The Lungs

Asthma affects more than five million people in the UK and severe asthma can have a hugely detrimental impact on individual’s quality of life. Even when treated, asthma can be fatal and the most recent data shows it contributed to 1,465 deaths in the UK in 2022 – this is despite the availability of new treatments which aim to dampen down inflammation in the lungs.

However, as well as inflammation, asthma also results in what has previously been considered to be irreversible structural lung changes. These changes include making the lung stiffer and more scarred through increases in ‘extracellular matrix collagens.’

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The Role Of Protein Molecules

Using animal models that share features of severe asthma in people, Tara and the team of researchers found that preventing inflammation alone is not enough to reverse this tissue scarring.

Instead, they found that inhibiting specific protein molecules strongly associated with inflammation and tissue damage ‘remarkably reversed’ the formation of this scarring in the lungs.

Potential: New Way To Treat Asthma

Tara explains: “Drugs that inhibit inflammation in asthma are crucial for managing the disease. However, these drugs may not always be enough to prevent and reverse lung damage found in severe asthma. Our findings show that we also need to consider that structural lung changes occur in severe asthma and that these changes may occur independently of inflammatory pathways.

“A better understanding of these structural changes and their consequences for lung health could lead to development of new therapies that benefit people particularly with severe asthma and could potentially be used alongside drugs that stop inflammation.

Although a first step in a long process, our study suggests avenues for new treatments that may have the potential to prevent disease progression and even reverse tissue scarring in asthma.

“Understanding ways to prevent matrix accumulation and tissue scarring in pathology is important not only in asthma but has far stretching implications in many different diseases where fibrosis due to disorganised matrix formation is suggested to account for approximately 40% of worldwide mortality.”

This research was funded by a Medical Research Foundation and Asthma + Lung UK Fellowship, with support from the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Dr Angela Hind, CEO of the Medical Research Foundation, said: “Asthma affects millions of people in the UK, including 1.1 million children, yet despite current treatments, too many people still die from the condition every day. Severe uncontrolled asthma can cause lasting damage to the lungs and drastically reduce quality of life.

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“This research is a crucial step forward – showing how we might not only prevent that damage, but even reverse it, opening the door to treatments that could transform lives.

“By supporting studies like this, the Medical Research Foundation aims to generate the evidence needed to change how asthma is treated and ultimately improve outcomes for people living with the condition.”

The study has just been published in Science Immunology.

Credit: Published in Medical Research Foundation, with the headline: Research points to new treatment target for asthma