Asthma Virus discovery raises hope of new treatments

London -- People suffering from asthma could be saved from a severe or potentially fatal attack as the scientists in UK have discovered the cause behind asthmatics suffering severe attacks when they catch colds. Their lungs do not produce enough of the anti-viral proteins needed to fight the infection.

A research published in the journal Nature Medicine indicates that asthma sufferers only produce half the number of anti-viral proteins when suffering a cold that non-sufferers do. As a result, they are far more likely to suffer a severe attack during a cold - and eventually die in hospital. Nearly 1,500 asthmatics die every year.

Excited with the findings, the researchers hope that the discovery will lead to a new generation of treatments that can prevent the most extreme asthma attacks.

"When a normal person gets a common cold virus they get a common cold and a little bit of a cough but nothing else happening in the lungs, whereas an asthmatic may end up in hospital," said Sebastian Johnston, of Imperial College London, who headed the research.

Data from charity Asthma UK show that 1 in 12 people, in the UK, suffers from asthma and near about 1,500 die every year. The key factors of acute asthma attacks are common cold viruses. According to the data 60 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children, taken to hospital as a result of an attack, are suffering from a viral infection.

The difference, between a normal cold-hit person and an asthmatic attacked with cold, is explained by a newly identified family of interferons, proteins produced in the lung by the immune system. "The interferons are directly protecting you against infection.

They're deficient in people with asthma," said Professor Johnston. "When we tested volunteers with and without asthma we found these new interferons, which would tackle the infection, were not being produced as effectively in people with asthma,” he added.

To fight against the deficiency of such proteins, the researchers say that inhalers can be developed to deliver the necessary anti-viral medicine to the lungs to help the body fight back. "Delivery of the deficient interferons by inhalers could be an ideal way to treat and prevent severe attacks of asthma, potentially vastly improving the quality of life for asthma patients," Professor Johnston said in his study.

Deeply impressed with the findings, Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, which also helped fund the study said, "The results will be of invaluable help in improving the treatment and care of people with asthma. Professor Johnston and his colleagues have identified a reason why people are more susceptible to rhinovirus infections which can cause asthma attacks. This important finding paves the way for developing new approaches to prevention and treatment."

Professor Johnston, who has started the trials on boosting the interferon level by inhalation, said that there were often a few days between a cold starting and the first attack, giving people a chance to take the drugs.