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January 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda FRIDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) — Almost half of patients with
mild or moderate asthma may have a different type of disease than those
with more severe symptoms, perhaps explaining why common treatments don’t
work well for them, new research suggests.
“We are beginning to understand that different ‘flavors’ of asthma
probably have different molecular mechanisms,” said Dr. John Fahy,
director of the Airway Clinical Research Center at the University of
California, San Francisco. He is the senior author of the new study,
published online Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine.
Asthma is a chronic disease involving inflamed airways. As the airways
become more swollen, the muscles around them can tighten when something
triggers symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.
Current anti-inflammatory treatments target a condition called
eosinophilic airway inflammation, which is common in asthma. Eosinophils
are a type of white blood cell that help fight off infection and play a
role in the immune response.
However, the new research finds that nearly half of the 995 patients
studied did not have this condition.
Fahy’s team repeatedly measured these white blood cells in sputum
samples of the volunteers with asthma who were enrolled in nine clinical
trials.
Nearly half, or 47 percent, had no airway eosinophilia on any test of
their sputum. Some had the condition intermittently and some had it on
each test.
The investigators found that only 36 percent of those not taking an
inhaled corticosteroid, an anti-inflammatory, had the condition, while 17
percent of those who used the inhaled steroids did.
After two weeks of giving the participants anti-inflammatories and
bronchodilator therapy, Fahy found those with the airway eosinophilia
responded and had better airflow. But those who didn’t have the condition
did not respond. The responses to the bronchodilators — other medicines
commonly used for asthma that work by helping to open the bronchial
tubes — were similar in both groups, however.
Previous studies looked at a single sample to assess whether those with
asthma had the white blood cell involvement, Fahy explained, while this
study looked at many over time.
“This study reinforces the idea that asthma is not a one-type disease,”
he said.
Even within the nearly 50 percent without the white blood cell
involvement, there are probably many different subtypes, Fahy noted.
The test used was a complicated research test, Fahy pointed out, and it
is not easily done in clinical practice.
Based on the study results, researchers might next work on a simpler
test to determine if those with asthma have involvement of these white
blood cells, he said. Eventually, the findings may help doctors better
individualize asthma treatment.
The findings suggest that a sizeable group of people with mild to
moderate asthma have a type of disease that is not typical, with poorly
understood mechanisms, and that new treatments will be needed, Fahy
concluded.
“The finding that half of these had the absence of eosinophils in the
sputum was a little surprising,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary
specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
“It’s higher than I thought,” Horovitz said. The “cascade” of
inflammation in asthma — what happens to bring on the symptoms — has
been well studied, he noted. However, “we can’t guarantee that our current
regimen of bronchodilators plus inhaled corticosteroids is going to work,
even in mild asthma,” Horovitz explained.
Doctors should ask their patients with asthma if they produce a lot of
sputum, Horovitz suggested. If they do, they tend to respond to the
corticosteroids.
More information
To learn more about asthma, visit the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology.
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