Do childhood infections increase the risk of asthma?

It has long been thought that childhood viral infections may be responsible for the appearance of asthma later in life. A link has now been convincingly demonstrated as has a strategy for breaking this link

The incidence of asthma is growing at an alarming rate and a body of research has linked this to infection with respiratory syncytial virus (PRWEB) August 4, 2001

RSV is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children worldwide. Virtually all children contract it by the age of three. Sever reaction to infection can have serious knock-on effects and consequently infection represent the leading cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in infants.

According to new data overviewed in yesterdays edition of TherapeuticAdvances, a leading bulletin of cutting edge technology with pharmaceutical potential, a more long-term link with asthma may also be possible.

University of Michigan researchers have recently addressed this issue using animal models. They found that RSV infection can worsen airway responses to cockroach antigen administered at a much later time point and that this was critically related to the levels of a immune mediator, IL-13 generated in response to RSV.

According to LeadDiscovery consultants "a link has long been suspected between RSV and asthma, however this new data strengthens the argument significantly and also identifies potential treatments that if given during RSV infection, may considerably reduce problems later on in life".

This study carries vital clinical implications and demands that patient studies should be conducted to determine if a similar link can be found in children infected with RSV. Likewise the development of IL-13 blockers may offer an early preventative treatment of asthma and other airway allergies

For information on in-depth analyses of this and related work visit the LeadDiscovery website at http://www.leaddiscovery.co.uk/target-discovery/therapeuticadvances.html.

LeadDiscovery is a leading Sussex based firm of drug discovery, development and commercialization consultants whose aim is to combine a background in the pharmaceutical industry with an internet platform to help academic and biotech based research groups to exploit their technology.