Flare-ups of asthma are usually brought on by respiratory infections, such as the common cold, and are one of the most common reasons for a child to miss school or require emergency care.
Why some children develop asthma and what we can do to prevent the flare-ups from happening is still unknown.
What we do know is that when people experience severe flare-ups of asthma, immune cells travel from the blood to the lungs to fight the viral infection.
As published in Respiratory Research on 12 July 2023, a new study - the LPS binding protein and activation signatures are upregulated during asthma exacerbations in children study - aimed to investigate the activity of the immune system at the time of an asthma flare-up compared to several weeks later, when the children had recovered.
The study included 19 school-age children presenting with an exacerbation of asthma to the Emergency Department at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Western Australia.
This research discovered that the immune cells are already activated before they even reach the lungs and genes are ‘chatting’ to each other, to direct the immune response in the airways.
The study also found that the immune system appeared to be responding to a bacterial infection, which is interesting, given that most asthma flare-ups are caused by viral infections.
This new knowledge was achieved by using a state-of-the-art method called systems biology, that provides a ‘bird’s eye view’ or big picture of how genes communicate with each other during the flare-up, and combining this with an evaluation of which genes were turned “on” or “off”, just like a light switch.
The study’s lead author Dr Anya Jones, a computational biologist with the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre and The University of Western Australia, said the discovery is important, as it allows future treatments to target immune cells in the blood before they reach the airways, to improve asthma control.
“Knowing that the immune cells are already activated before they even reach the lungs and that genes are ‘chatting’ to each other, to direct the immune response in the airways, is another important piece of the very complex asthma puzzle,” said Dr Jones.
As a result of this research, we can now look at possible treatments that target immune cells in the blood before they reach the airways, or at ways of assisting the immune system to optimize its response to viral infections in some children.
“Ultimately, this new information will help researchers to plan the next set of studies to help unlock more secrets to the development of asthma, and to discover more effective therapies.”
The study was carried out in collaboration with the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, The University of Western Australia, The University of Queensland, University of Arizona, and The University of Arizona College of Medicine.
The study team included Dr Jonatan Leffler, Associate Professor Ingrid Laing, Dr Joelene Bizzintino, Ms Kim Khoo, Professor Peter Le Souef, Professor Peter Sly, Professor Patrick Holt, Associate Professor Deborah Strickland, and Associate Professor Anthony Bosco.
The Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre is a powerhouse partnership between The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Perth Children’s Hospital.
The paper LPS binding protein and activation signatures are upregulated during asthma exacerbations in children was published in the journal Respiratory Research and can be read here.