Irish team make cystic fibrosis discovery

THE treatment of women with a disease more prevalent here than in any other country could be helped by a major Irish scientific breakthrough.

Almost four times as many people in Ireland, per head of population, have cystic fibrosis (CF) than in other EU countries or the US. The survival rate for females with the respiratory disease, which seriously inhibits sufferers’ lung use, is much poorer than men’s and they are also more susceptible to lung infections. But researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have made an important discovery explaining this gender discrepancy.

They found the oestrogen hormone, much higher levels of which are found in women, prevents the release of a chemical signal that can help trigger white blood cells to fight infection in the lungs when cells are attacked by bacteria. Research published in 2008 showed that oestrogen can also increase the likelihood of infection but the latest findings make clear it also limits the ability to fight lung infections.