Important advances in the short-term treatment of asthma

 LONDON: Asthma is very distressing and now there has been a major breakthrough in the chronic treatment of this disease.

Experts from the University of Aston and Imperial College London have discovered a new method in which they have found the root cause of asthma. In experiments on mice, virtually all symptoms of asthma disappeared and their airways remained normal for two weeks.

Asthma is a very painful disease all over the world, including Pakistan, and thousands and millions of people fall victim to it every year. It is currently treated with steroids which bring temporary relief. However, Dr. Jill Johnson of Easton University and her colleagues have considered a particular type of stem cell, the pericyte, in this regard. which is present in the inner lining of blood vessels. When dust or any other cause causes an asthma attack, the pericytes reach the wall of the airways. Then these muscle cells thicken and the airways begin to narrow.

One type of protein CXCL12 was found to move pericytes. For this, scientists have created a molecule called LIT 927 that blocks its signal. It was injected into the rat's nose. Mice that were sprayed with gin had significant relief of asthma symptoms within a week. On the other hand, LIT 927 treatment also maintained airway fineness. Even the airways of the asthmatic mice became exactly like those of the healthy mice.

Now scientists are doing more research on it. They believe that after the effect on mice, its benefits can be seen on humans as well.