Researchers hope that their findings might pave the way to designing more effective treatments.
A new study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, investigates a potential new approach to designing drugs for the treatment of asthma. Better interventions could be on the horizon.
Current medications can effectively treat the symptoms for many people but, as the lead author of the current study, Dr. Ruth Sander, says: "For a number of people with asthma, particularly severe asthma, treatment is not 100 percent effective.
Although a number of new therapies are under investigation for allergy-related asthma, there is still a need for new therapies for asthma that is not related to allergies."
The steady rise in asthma cases, its potential to be fatal, and the shortfalls of medication for some individuals, all make asthma research an important field of study.
A recent study, conducted at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, investigated the role of a specific protein in asthma called high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1).
The researchers hope that their findings might pave the way to designing more effective treatments.