Bravo to Biochemistry for the New Protein Study!
The Florida Lung Doctors hope that you do not take your healthy breathing for granted. Empathy with our patients who have COPD has taught some hard lessons to both doctors and professional staff here in Orlando. All of us have developed an warm appreciation for drawing deep, refreshing breaths through healthy lungs.
This empathy has also driven us to stay on the cutting edge of research to discover the newest ways of bringing the comfort of good air to our patients.
That is why we are heartened to know about a recent protein study at the University of North Carolina. Patients with COPD, other lung diseases, or cystic fibrosis, struggle to breathe because they can not clear the mucous from their lungs.
To explain it simply, the mucus is too thick and too sticky. Eventually it will clog the lungs and cause lethal infection. Exciting new research has shown scientists some new proteins that assist patients to in clearing their airways. Briefly, this is how this special protein works:
Researchers believe the SPLUNC1 protein and its peptides, help the patient by thinning the mucus. This happens because of the effect of SPLUNC1 protein on the epithelial sodium channel, termed the ENaC.
As reported recently in the FASEB Journal, Robert Tarran, PhD., a researcher involved in the work from the Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said, “We hope that this study will pave the way for a new class of peptide-based channel inhibitors that can help reverse the mucus dehydration seen in Cystic Fibrosis and COPD.” These channel inhibitors thin the mucus, and that helps restore mucus clearance. Dr. Tarran explained that this could “kick-start the lung’s ability to clear unwanted pathogens.” You can read more details of the process and the research study by clicking here.
Super Cheers for the Lung Sealant System!
Meanwhile, great studies are being done in Israel and in the United States, on an endosocopic lung sealant to treat patients who suffer from advanced emphysema. Named the AeriSeal Emphysematous Lung Sealant System (Aeris Therapeutics,) scientists previously had noted that the treatment had been tested on, and helped patients with upper lobe, unilateral emphysema for six months.
To expand on this success, the team tested the system bilaterally in a group of 20 adults an children. How? The endoscopic procedure delivers a liquid foam sealant into diseased areas of the lung. There it polymerizes and it causes the collapse of the diseased part of the lung. This allows for more space in the chest cavity to improve the function of the healthier lung tissue. The procedure involves routine bronchoscopic technique, light aenethetic, and is usually accomplished in less than 20 minutes.Patients can normally go home in one day.
The measured results were stunning. At 6 months, the lung function improved 31.2 percent, and 25 percent at 12 months. Measures of “gas-trapping” fell by 7.2 per cent at 6 months and 10.9 per cent at 6 months. The authors of the study declared that the improvements were “comparable in magnitude and durability to those following lung volume reduction surgery.” This is very good news indeed. Deep Readers and health care professionals will appreciate the total article at this link.
We must note that the AeriSeal System has received the valuable CE Mark approval in Europe but it is still being investigated in the U.S. We will be watching as several trials are on-going, and several more are being planned in the near future. You can read more details here. The Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Center is appreciative to the researchers who spend countless hours in the laboratory. We embrace their spirit of diligence because we would love to see our patients comfortably breathe in the cool fresh sea air of our amazing Florida beaches.
Again we thank you for taking the time to read our blog. We appreciate you, and we hope you will share the good news of lung research with your social networking friends on Face-book.
