What exactly is bronchial asthma?
This, that and probably something else! This is how you could casually summarize the current scientific knowledge about the development, symptoms and treatment of bronchial asthma. Because even if the asthma symptoms are always similar (cough, shortness of breath, wheezing) - the disease is anything but clearly defined in terms of causes and progression: wheezing respiratory diseases or bronchial asthma are common chronic diseases in children and adolescents but do not provide a uniform picture. Rather, we are dealing with a complex syndrome with different manifestations, degrees of severity and time courses.
What do we know about asthma subgroups?
Today there are two basic types of asthma: allergic and non-allergic asthma. In allergic asthma, an excessive immune system reaction leads to chronic inflammation of the airways. Many different factors play a role in non-allergic asthma. The disease often occurs after a viral infection. This form has a lower risk of resulting in long-lasting chronic inflammation of the bronchi.
DZL Flagship project - The All Age Asthma Cohort (Alliance)
The Alliance study aims to uncover the complex relationships that underlie the different forms of asthma and other wheezing respiratory diseases. The large-scale study has been running since 2011 with more than 1,000 patients nationwide. The aim of the study is to identify biomarkers (signal transmitters) in order to detect the respective subtype of the disease as early as possible in the future. This would also make it possible to tailor the treatment to each individual patient much more individually.
Children aged 6 months to 18 years are included in the ALLIANCE study at the DZL locations in Lübeck, Hanover and Munich, as well as in the affiliated centers in Marburg and Cologne, and adult patients in Großhansdorf.
In Munich, in the CPC-M, the study visits with the participating patients take place in the Christiane Herzog outpatient clinic of Dr. carried out by Haunerschen Children's Hospital. For example, the ALLIANCE team measures the children's lung function, takes blood samples, carries out sweat tests or nasal swabs or measures exhaled air using an electronic nose, the “e-Nose”. After an initial comprehensive basic examination, patients come for another visit every 12 months. The study participants from the control group (healthy people) only come once.
Gene variant makes children more susceptible to asthma - correction possible?
Researchers in the ALLIANCE (ALL Age Asthma) cohort investigated whether there could be a link between a genetic defect and viral infections that increase the risk of asthma in children. This hypothesis turned out to be correct. By analyzing the nasal secretions of around 200 children with early asthma, they discovered a genetic defect that represents exactly this connection. Their next goal: to develop medications and nasal sprays that can influence or correct the consequences of the genetic defect.