New drug treatment reverses asthma symptoms in animal models
An international team of scientists, led by the University of Glasgow, have identified a new class of drugs that reverse the symptoms of asthma in animal models.
The researchers also found that the same drugs, when applied to lung samples obtained from human donors, showed effects similar to those seen in the animal models. They believe that these combined findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, could result in new medicines for human inflammatory lung disease.
The drugs work through a mechanism that is distinct from currently prescribed medicines for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), centred on the activation of a protein that, up until now, has been known to respond to fats contained in our diet. The protein, called free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFA4), is found in the gut and pancreas where it is activated by dietary fats including the fish oil omega 3. Once activated, FFA4 is known to help control levels of glucose in our blood.
Surprisingly, the researchers found FFA4 is also present in the human lung. By designing a new class of drugs that activate FFA4 in the lung, they found that the muscle that surrounds the airways relaxes, allowing more air to enter the lung. They also found that activators of FFA4 reduced inflammation caused by exposure of mice to pollution, cigarette smoke and allergens like house dust mite that cause asthma.
In this way, the team have established that activating FFA4 can reverse the key hallmarks of inflammatory lung disease, heralding the prospect of new drugs for the treatment for lung disease. Study co-author Professor Christopher Brightling, from the University of Leicester, noted: “By the identification of this new mechanism, we offer the hope for new effective medicines for those patients that are not responsive to our current treatments.”
“It was indeed a surprise to find that, by targeting a protein that up to now has been thought of as being activated by fish oils in our diet, we were able to relax airway muscle and prevent inflammation,” added co-author Professor Andrew Tobin from the University of Glasgow. “We are optimistic that we can extend our findings and develop a new drug treatment of asthma and COPD.”
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