Asthma is one of the most difficult diseases to treat in the world. It affects millions of people worldwide, many of them children. Unfortunately, there is an additional problem to treating asthma that isn’t always immediately apparent. Some strains of asthma are entirely resistant to steroids, which are used as one of the key medicines to combat the disease.
Steroids usually work by acting as an anti-inflammatory in the lungs of the patient during an asthma attack. Figures suggest that around 50 percent of people who are diagnosed with asthma will have the form that is resistant to these types of drugs. However, now it seems like there might be some good news on the horizon for asthma sufferers who have this added complication.
Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified cells that play a major role in some forms of the steroid-resistant asthma. The identification of cells known as T-Helper Type 17 (Th17) will hopefully allow scientists to develop alternative treatment for the types of asthma that are resistant to steroids.
The study found that the Th17 cells helped reduce steroid-resistant airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness in animals with asthma. The cells are actually a natural part of the immune system and can be found throughout the body.
While some patients with steroid-resistant asthma can use steroids, they would need an extremely high dose that would likely result in some unwanted side effects. Now the researchers hope that since they have found the mechanism for the steroid-resistant asthma, there will be far more research into potential alternative treatments.
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