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German and US Research Team Find Common Cause in Lung Disease CF and Smoker’s Lung
| Author: Tony Cappasso |
| Article Date: 4/21/2008 |
A research team in Germany and the US concludes that lung damage caused by cigarette smoking and the harm caused by the inherited disease cystic fibrosis may have common roots.
That is the conclusion reached by scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital under the direction of Assistant Professor Dr. Marcus Mall from the Department of Pediatrics at Heidelberg University Hospital and Professor Dr. Richard Boucher of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The conclude from evidence from animal studies that insufficient hydration of the airway surfaces leads to pathologies typical of chronic obstructive lung diseases in humans.
The findings point to a new approach for the treatment of these diseases, which are listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. There are currently no causal therapies available for treating these diseases; only the symptoms such as shortness of breath and oxygen deficiency can be treated, they say.
The results of the study have now been published in the “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine”.
The research team from Heidelberg and the US has for the first time studied the spontaneous course of lung disease caused by dehydration of airway surfaces in mice from birth to adulthood. They found changes that are not only typical for cystic fibrosis, but also for other chronic obstructive lung diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema, according to Dr. Mall, head of the Heidelberg Cystic Fibrosis Center and also head of a research program funded by a Marie Curie Excellence Grant from the European Union.
In young mice, overly dry airways lead to allergic airway inflammation, which is characterized by an increase in specific white blood cells, called eosinophils - typically seen in asthma, a disease that affects every tenth child in Ger-many. Subsequently, adult mice gradually develop chronic bronchitis (dominated by neutrophils), and emphysema, i.e. the destruction of the small alveoli in the lungs that are responsible for the exchange of oxygen between air and blood. These changes are typical for lung disease caused by exposure to cigarette smoke.
The researchers believe that dehydrated airway surfaces could play a key role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in humans. These results indicate that improving hydration of airway surfaces and thus mucus clearance of the lungs, for example by blocking the sodium channels in the cells of the respiratory tract, could be a successful strategy for treating COPD of different etiologies.
That is the conclusion reached by scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital under the direction of Assistant Professor Dr. Marcus Mall from the Department of Pediatrics at Heidelberg University Hospital and Professor Dr. Richard Boucher of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The conclude from evidence from animal studies that insufficient hydration of the airway surfaces leads to pathologies typical of chronic obstructive lung diseases in humans.
The findings point to a new approach for the treatment of these diseases, which are listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. There are currently no causal therapies available for treating these diseases; only the symptoms such as shortness of breath and oxygen deficiency can be treated, they say.
The results of the study have now been published in the “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine”.
The research team from Heidelberg and the US has for the first time studied the spontaneous course of lung disease caused by dehydration of airway surfaces in mice from birth to adulthood. They found changes that are not only typical for cystic fibrosis, but also for other chronic obstructive lung diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema, according to Dr. Mall, head of the Heidelberg Cystic Fibrosis Center and also head of a research program funded by a Marie Curie Excellence Grant from the European Union.
In young mice, overly dry airways lead to allergic airway inflammation, which is characterized by an increase in specific white blood cells, called eosinophils - typically seen in asthma, a disease that affects every tenth child in Ger-many. Subsequently, adult mice gradually develop chronic bronchitis (dominated by neutrophils), and emphysema, i.e. the destruction of the small alveoli in the lungs that are responsible for the exchange of oxygen between air and blood. These changes are typical for lung disease caused by exposure to cigarette smoke.
The researchers believe that dehydrated airway surfaces could play a key role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in humans. These results indicate that improving hydration of airway surfaces and thus mucus clearance of the lungs, for example by blocking the sodium channels in the cells of the respiratory tract, could be a successful strategy for treating COPD of different etiologies.