Controlling lung inflammation in asthmatics

It is appropriate on World Asthma Day to report on a trial aimed at helping asthma sufferers who don’t respond well to usual therapies.

Asthma researchers from around Australia are collaborating in the $2.9 million five-year study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, which will investigate the potential benefits of a macrolide antibiotic in the lungs of asthmatics who still have symptoms despite taking their prevention medications.

Asthma is a significant health problem in Australia and has a high prevalence of this disease compared with other countries. More than 2.2 million Australians suffer from this chronic lung disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the airways.

Current asthma medication is often targeted to treating eosinophils, a particular type of white blood cell. However, almost half of the people with asthma symptoms have normal levels of these eosinophils and don’t respond as well to current asthma therapies.

It is thought neutrophils may be more important in people with persistent asthma and researchers hope the antibiotic treatment will reduce inflammation in their lungs.

The team includes University of Adelaide Professor Paul Reynolds, Respiratory Physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Director of the Lung Research Laboratory at the Hanson Institute.

“Macrolide antibiotics are broad-spectrum antibiotics derived from natural products. They’re approved to treat infections but they also have proven anti-inflammatory activities in a growing number of lung diseases, even when infection is not present,” Reynolds said.

The researchers suspect there are potential benefits to be gained from using low doses of the antibiotic to reduce inflammation in the lungs. This study will assess the efficacy and safety of the treatment. Researchers are now recruiting asthma sufferers to the study.