asthma tagged posts

Vitamin D production

Vitamin D supplementation is unlikely to reduce the risk of asthma in children or adults, atopic dermatitis, or allergies according to a new study published in PLOS Medicine by Brent Richards, of McGill University, Canada, and the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital, Canada, and colleagues. Some previous epidemiological studies have suggested that low vitamin D levels are associated with increased rates of asthma, atopic dermatitis and elevated levels of IgE. In the new work, researchers looked at genetic and health data on more than 100,000 individuals from previous large studies to determine whether genetic alterations that are associated with vitamin D levels predispose people to asthma, dermatitis, or high IgE levels.

The researchers found no statis...

Professor Ken Stark taking a sample of blood in Waterloo’s Laboratory of Nutritional and Nutraceutical Research to determine the levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Credit: Light Imaging

Taking certain omega-3 fatty acid supplements during pregnancy can reduce the risk of childhood asthma by almost one third, according to a new study from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC) and the University of Waterloo. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that women who were prescribed 2.4 grams of long-chain omega-3 supplements during the third trimester of pregnancy reduced their children’s risk of asthma by 31%...

Childhood asthma. Mother helping her baby son to use an inhaler. The inhaler is attached to a spacer. The spacer acts as a reservoir, retaining the vapour from the inhaler and allowing the patient to inhale it at their chosen rate.

“Our study is the first to show that breastfeeding can modify the effect of asthma-related genetic profiles on respiratory symptoms in the first year of life,” commented Dr Olga Gorlanova, from the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB), and the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Genes that are associated with asthma risk are located on chromosome 17 and called 17q21. A recent study reported that children who possessed genetic variants on chromosome 17q21 had an increased risk of developing wheeze, when combined with certain environmental exposures.

Schematic representation of the contribution of soluble ADAM33 (sADAM33) as a local tissue susceptibility gene in asthma pathobiology.

A potential novel way of preventing asthma at the origin of the disease has been found, a finding that could challenge the current understanding of the condition. Insight, analysed the impact of the gene ADAM33, which is associated with the development of asthma. ADAM33 makes an enzyme, which is attached to cells in the airway muscles. When the enzyme loses its anchor to the cell surface, it is prone to going rogue around the lung causing poorer lung function in people who have asthma.

The studies in human tissue samples and mice, led by A/Prof Hans Michel Haitchi suggests that if you inhibit ADAM33 or prevent it from going rouge, the features of asthma – a...