As common as asthma is, exactly how it starts remains murky. Scientists have now identified a new root cause, and importantly a new angle for treating the disease that can prevent the main symptoms.
According to WHO, asthma affects around 262 million people worldwide, but despite its prevalence there’s still much scientists don’t understand about the condition. It’s usually treated as an inflammatory disease – triggers like pollen or dust set off inflammation that narrows the airways and makes it difficult to breathe. Inhaler medications can relieve this by relaxing the airways and calming inflammation.
But the new study points to a different root cause, of which inflammation is itself a symptom. When the airway muscles contract – known as bronchoconstriction – the epithelial cells that line the airways are 'squeezed out' and later die. With fewer of these cells acting as a barrier, the chances for future asthma attacks increase.
New flu drug aims to keep you in a 'Goldilocks zone' of lung inflammation
By Paul McClure
April 12, 2024
A new drug for severe influenza successfully keeps patients at the perfect level of lung inflammation to protect against lung damage, while still allowing the immune system to fight off the infection. It's proven effective in mice even days after infection.
If you’ve ever caught the flu, you’ve more than likely been infected with the Influenza A virus (IAV). Compared to the Influenza B virus, infection with the A type often produces more severe symptoms. But, while many of us have experienced the fever and chills, headache and muscle aches, fatigue, sore throat and cough of a run-of-the-mill flu, severe infection with IAV is a different, potentially life-threatening beast.
University of Oxford researchers have for the first time established a controlled human infection model for tuberculosis (TB) that infects people via the lungs—the way TB enters the body.
The clinical trial, which used the BCG vaccine delivered via aerosol into participants' lungs, is a first step towards establishing a challenge model that can be used to test new TB vaccines. The paper is published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Human challenge models have contributed significantly to the development of vaccines for diseases such as malaria or typhoid, especially in early-phase trials. They help scientists select which vaccines should be taken forward into larger field efficacy studies and could be particularly useful with pathogens like tuberculosis, where vaccine development is very difficult.
B-cells infiltrating the lungs may be responsible for one of the most common complications in lung transplantation, which can lead to rejection, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Roughly 2,500 people receive lung transplants each year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and they are one of few treatment options available for people experiencing end-stage respiratory failure, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Ischemia/reperfusion injury—the damage caused by cell death following the restoration of blood flow to a donor lung—is one of the most common complications of lung transplantation surgery, and a fundamental problem faced in all organ transplants, said Ankit Bharat, MBBS, the Harold L. and Margaret N. Method Professor of Surgery, Director of Canning Thoracic Institute and a co-author of the study.
First breakthrough in treating asthma attacks in 50 years hailed as a 'game-changer'
Source: The Independent
Thursday 28 November 2024 09:04 GMT
A new way of treating serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attacks could be a “game-changer” and is the first leap in treatment for 50 years, researchers say.
Offering patients an injection is more effective than the current care of steroid tablets and cuts the need for further treatment by 30%, according to a study.
Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets specific white blood cells, called eosinophils, to reduce lung inflammation. It is currently used as a repeat treatment for severe asthma at a low dose, but a new clinical trial has found that a higher single dose can be very effective if injected at the time of a flare-up.
The findings, published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine, included 158 people who needed medical attention in A&E for their asthma or COPD attack (COPD is a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties).
Research led by the CDC and conducted at seven academic pediatric medical centers in the United States finds nirsevimab (sold as Beyfortus) highly effective in reducing respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) related hospitalization in children under 5 years old.
RSV is a common respiratory virus that causes mild, cold-like symptoms in healthy adults. Infants are more likely to develop severe RSV, especially those younger than 12 months.
RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in U.S. infants. Circulation typically peaks between December and February, leading to 50,000 to 80,000 hospitalizations, mostly of infants in the first months of life. Nirsevimab is an FDA approved long-acting monoclonal antibody designed to prevent RSV lower respiratory tract illness in infants under 8 months.
In 2023, health authorities approved and recommended nirsevimab for all infants entering their first RSV season and a maternal RSV vaccine during late pregnancy to protect young infants.
While a stethoscope will tell you if someone has a respiratory ailment, it will only share that information in the few minutes it's being used by a trained physician. A new wearable device could paint a much bigger picture of the problem, by monitoring the patient's breathing for days at a time.
Known as the Lung-Sound-Monitoring-Patch (LSMP), the prototype gadget is essentially a stethoscope that's designed to be adhered to the skin for up to five days continuously. It's being developed by a team of researchers led by postdoctoral scientist Kyoung-Ryul Lee, from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.
The device is just a few millimeters thick, and incorporates components such as a downward-facing unidirectional MEMS microphone, a microcontroller unit, a Bluetooth LE module, a flexible printed circuit board, and a lithium-polymer battery. All of those electronics are encapsulated inside a 3D-printed waterproof body made of a biocompatible resin.
Smartinhaler ensures effective asthma treatment when it’s needed
By Paul McClure
May 14, 2025
The Hailie Smartinhaler, from med-tech company Adherium, improves asthma control by ensuring inhalers are used effectively and at the right time. It has been assisting American asthmatics since 2017; now its makers want it to be available to Aussie asthmatics, too.
Asthma affects up to 29% of people globally. Characterized by wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing, the condition also carries a significant risk of death, especially if it’s not controlled effectively. Poor control might be the result of poor treatment adherence or, in the case of inhalers, improper technique.
Adherium Limited, an Australian eHealth company focused on the management of respiratory disease, has developed its Hailie Smartinhaler technology to help patients with asthma ensure that they’re using their inhaler in the most effective way.
Researchers find how pollution hampers lung function and how to reverse it
By Paul McClure
June 03, 2025
New research has identified the mechanism by which air pollution damages the lungs’ self-cleaning system, leaving us vulnerable to infection. In doing so, it has also identified a way to reverse that damage and restore lung function.
We already know that exposure to air pollution is bad for us, and it’s particularly damaging for our lungs. However, what happens at the molecular level to cause that lung damage hasn’t been well known until now.
A new study led by researchers from the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at the University of Osaka, Japan, has identified the mechanism by which air pollution damages the airways and, in the process, identified a treatment to potentially reverse it.
“Our results were quite informative,” said lead author Noriko Shinjyo, PhD, an IFReC researcher. “We found that PM2.5 air pollutants negatively affect mucociliary clearance, a major protective mechanism in the respiratory tract. Mucociliary clearance basically involves trapping pollutants in a sticky mucus and then sweeping the pollutants out [of] the airway with hair-like projections called cilia.”
The secrets of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are written in its very name. Idiopathic refers to a disease of unknown cause, and the condition, which turns healthy lung tissue into fibrous scar tissue, still raises many questions.
IPF originates at the periphery of the lung and progresses inward, compromising more and more tissue and, eventually, making it difficult for a person to breathe. There is no cure for IPF, and neither of the two drugs that are approved as treatments can reverse the scarring—they only slow it down.
In a new study published June 20 in Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers at Yale School of Medicine and collaborators took a significant step toward understanding IPF—and numerous other complex diseases—with an algorithm that interprets disease data and proposes treatments.
Vaccination of pregnant women has been linked to a drop in newborns being admitted to hospital with a serious lung infection, research suggests.
Researchers found the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, introduced across the UK in late summer 2024, led to a 72% reduction in babies hospitalized with the virus if mothers were vaccinated.
The findings are the first to show the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine in pregnant women in the UK.
Uptake of the jab among pregnant women could help to limit the number of sick babies each winter, reducing hospital pressures, experts say.
RSV is a common virus that causes coughs and colds but can lead to a severe lung infection called bronchiolitis, which can be dangerous in babies, with some requiring admission to intensive care. The virus is the main infectious cause of hospitalization for babies in the UK and globally.
Surgeons Debate Promise and Limits of Robotics in Lung Transplantation at ISHLT meeting April 25, 2026
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) The expanding use of robotic technology in lung transplantation came under scrutiny at today’s 46th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), where experts debated whether its clinical benefits justify the cost and complexity.
The debate featured Stephanie Chang, MD, a Thoracic and Transplant Surgeon at NYU Langone Health, arguing in favor of robotics, and Hermann Reichenspurner, MD, PhD, a retired Surgeon and pioneer in minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery, presenting the counterpoint. Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery May Expand Patient Pool
Dr. Chang highlighted the potential of robotic-assisted surgery to improve recovery and expand access to transplantation.
“Robotic, minimally invasive approaches can reduce the physiologic stress of transplantation compared with traditional, large access incisions,” she said.
Dr. Chang noted that in lung transplantation, robotic techniques offer:
• smaller incisions and improved visualization
• less bleeding and fewer hemodynamic shifts
• potential reductions in kidney injury, pain, and hospital stays.
