Scientists from the Universities of Aberdeen and Manchester have made a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for asthma and even repair lung damage that was previously believed to be permanent.
Their study, published in Science Immunology, may also open the door to treating other diseases where tissue damage and scarring are major problems.
Right now, most asthma treatments focus on reducing inflammation in the lungs using steroid inhalers. While these treatments help many people, asthma still causes serious health problems and deaths. In the U.K. alone, more than 7 million people have asthma, and over 1,400 people died from asthma-related issues in 2022.
One of the biggest challenges in treating asthma is the long-term damage it causes to the lungs. Over time, asthma can make the lungs stiff and scarred due to changes in the tissue. These changes include a buildup of certain proteins called extracellular matrix collagens, which were thought to be irreversible.
But the new research shows there may be a way to reverse these changes. Using animal models with features similar to severe asthma in humans, the researchers discovered that simply stopping inflammation isn’t enough to fix the damaged lung tissue.
However, when they blocked specific protein molecules linked to inflammation and tissue damage, the lung scarring was “remarkably reversed.”
Dr. Tara Sutherland from the University of Aberdeen led the study. She explained that while current asthma drugs are important, they might not be enough to fully prevent or heal the lung damage seen in severe cases. This study shows that structural changes in the lungs can happen separately from inflammation—and may need their own treatment.
The team believes that better understanding how lung tissue changes in asthma can lead to new therapies. These could be especially useful for people with severe asthma and may work alongside current anti-inflammatory drugs.
Although this discovery is still in the early stages, it holds promise for other diseases too. Many illnesses—including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart disease, and liver cirrhosis—also involve tissue scarring. Together, these types of diseases account for around 40% of deaths worldwide.
James Parkinson, a researcher from the University of Manchester, said this study gives us a deeper understanding of how asthma develops and highlights the need to look at all parts of lung damage when creating new treatments.
This breakthrough could lead to therapies that not only stop disease from getting worse but actually heal damaged tissues—something once thought impossible in many chronic conditions.
The study is published in Science Immunology.
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