Scientific breakthrough could be ‘crucial’ to treating asthma

IRISH scientists have helped make a discovery which may be crucial in the treatment of asthma and other allergic diseases which affect half a million people in this country.

A previously unknown white blood cell has been found which plays a key role in triggering allergic responses by releasing a chemical when exposed to allergens.

In lab experiments using parasitic worms to trigger these responses, Professor Padraic Fallon from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and his collaborators in Britain were able to identify the cell found around the intestine or the lungs as the start point of allergic reactions.

The newly-discovered cell is called the nuocyte, and Prof Fallon and his 11-strong team plan to spend the next few years examining it to find out why and how it causes inflammation and allergic responses. Their work may also help to determine the degree to which asthma and other allergic diseases are genetically or environmentally caused.

“We need more understanding of the basic mechanisms and function of the cell and that leads to the question of whether some people are genetically predisposed to have more of these cells,” Prof Fallon said.

“We hope that in about three to four years, our work may lead to treatments of asthma and other allergic diseases.”

His work at TCD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine is funded by Science Foundation Ireland and the latest discovery is the result of a collaboration with the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

Their findings have been published in the leading science journal, Nature, indicating their significance.

“It’s an exciting time for Irish science because Irish scientists are competing at the top level internationally,” he said.

While asthma is mostly a developed world disease, the nuocyte cell discovery may also have a significant effect on treatment of parasitic infections which can kill people in the third world if untreated.

Around 470,000 Irish people suffer from asthma, giving this country the world’s fourth-highest asthma rates for size of population and the disease was estimated in 2003 to cost the state €227 million a year. Irish adults with asthma lose an average of 12 days from work each year and up to 24,000 bed days a year are used to treat patients admitted with a principal diagnosis of asthma.

Almost 95% of the average 5,347 people kept in hospital with asthma annually between 2000 and 2004 were admitted through emergency departments. Of almost 80 asthma deaths in Ireland every year, 30% are in people aged under 40.