The wonderful world of lung research
Over the years Asthma + Lung UK (previously Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation) have funded hundreds of research projects to find new ways to treat lung conditions and improve lives. In this blog, Bella from our Media Team shows us a few of our more unusual projects.
Can farmyard dust prevent asthma?
A research team at Imperial College London are currently looking into whether exposure to farmyard dust at an early age can help prevent the development of asthma.
Studies have shown that children who have grown up on farms are less likely to have pre-school wheeze - a condition that often develops into asthma in later childhood. Exposure at an early age to a dust found on most farms might help build up protection in children’s airways.
Professor Sejal Saglani’s team have been using extracts from farmyard dust to investigate this theory. Their ultimate goal is to turn this into a medication that helps protect children against lung problems in the future.
We’re funding this project with a research grant award of £100,000.
Can worms help stop allergic reactions triggering your asthma?
Research led by the University of Edinburgh in 2017, found that parasitic worms that live in the intestines, known as roundworms, release a protein molecule which prevents its host from having an allergic reaction. By identifying this new protein they have found a way of suppressing the allergic responses which trigger asthma.
People who live in countries where parasitic worms are common are less likely to have asthma. For instance, in Southeast Asia, less than 1 in 20 people have a diagnosis of asthma. Whereas in the UK, 1 in 11 people have the condition.
Asthma attacks are often triggered by allergies such as pollen, pets and dust mites. The hope is that the protein found in the worms can be used to develop a new treatment to dampen this allergic reaction and prevent potentially life-threatening asthma attacks.
We funded this project with a research grant award of £224,672.
Can your sleep patterns affect pulmonary fibrosis?
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition where the lung becomes progressively stiffened or hardened due to scarring – this makes breathing increasingly difficult. Some people might have pulmonary fibrosis for several years without it really progressing while for others the disease will get worse quite rapidly. Previous research has suggested that people who sleep for more than 10 hours or less than 6 hours a night could be more likely to develop pulmonary fibrosis than those who sleep the optimal time of 7-9 hours.
Dr John Blaikley and his team at the University of Manchester think that how long you sleep for might also affect how quickly pulmonary fibrosis develops. The team plan to investigate the effect of sleep on the development of pulmonary fibrosis and how the disease progresses. They will take a group of people with pulmonary fibrosis and record their sleep using wrist monitors to see if people that sleep for long periods or short periods have a different outcome with the disease. If a link is discovered, then existing interventions can be made available to help people with pulmonary fibrosis sleep for 7-9 hours a night.
We’re funding this project by with a research grant award of £39,735.
Can ‘breath prints’ be used to test for COPD and Asthma?
We know our fingerprints can be used to identify us against every other person on the planet, but did you know your ‘breath print’ might also be important? The chemical signature of your breath could be used to help doctors diagnose lung conditions.
Currently testing for asthma or COPD can be a real challenge as a person’s condition can change from day to day and they may not have symptoms at the time of their test appointment. Our researcher, Dr Thomas Brown and his team at Portsmouth Hospital are testing a new device that can be used to measure inflammation in your lungs and form a ‘breath print’. By recording things like the flow, temperature, humidity of the air you breathe out, and what chemicals are present, the Inflammacheck device could give a much more complete picture of how well your lungs are working, whether or not you have symptoms at the time of the test. The hope is this new science could help diagnose asthma or COPD in a matter of minutes.
We’re funding this project with a research grant award of £234,221.
What the future holds
Since Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation became one, we’ve been able to fund more than £6 million worth of pioneering research, finding new treatments and ways for people to better manage their lung condition.
Now, as Asthma + Lung UK, we’re continuing to transform lung health in the UK, and fight for your right to breathe.
We empower people with lung conditions to make changes that can be transformative.
Please donate now to help make sure people with lung conditions can live well this year.
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