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French scientists have discovered one of the molecules responsible for triggering the inflammation that causes allergic respiratory diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. A discovery which could lead to a treatment of serious forms.
If you are currently suffering from respiratory allergies (like 17 million French people), and particularly suffer from severe symptoms, here is some news that might interest you. Researchers from the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), Inserm (the National Institute of Health and Researche medical) and the University of Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier have identified a molecule “the major role in triggering inflammation at the origin of allergic respiratory diseases”, (in asthma or allergic rhinitis). A discovery that they published together in the journal Journal of Experimental Medicine this April 10, 2024.
Allergic reactions better deciphered
This molecule is TL1A, from the alarmin family, the third discovery in 20 years. It thus acts as an alarm signal emitted by the body when it is exposed to an allergen.
Thanks to French scientists, we now know that alarmin TL1A cooperates with another alarmin, interleukin-33, to alert the immune system to the presence of an allergen. “This double alarm signal will stimulate the activity of immune cells, which will then trigger a cascade of chain reactions responsible for allergic inflammation. indicates the CNRS press release.
Towards a treatment of serious inflammatory forms and COPD?
If this discovery is important, it is because beyond better understanding the reaction mechanism, it could also constitute a therapeutic target.for the development of new treatments for respiratory allergies” estimate the researchers.
“In a few years, treatments based on antibodies blocking alarmin TL1A could benefit patients suffering from severe asthma or other allergic diseases” explains Jean-Philippe Girard, researcher at Inserm and author of the study contacted by Doctissimo.
This news is all the more important and concerning as it would also have another interest: that of acting on COPD, the smoker’s disease. “This molecule is also important in non-allergic inflammation of the lung, so could be used for other chronic diseases, such as COPD which is the third cause of death in the world. If we know how to act upstream on the inflammatory reaction, we know how to block everything.”
With another advantage which could really speed up the creation of a treatment: “Because this alarmin that we discovered in the lungs was already known to be involved in inflammation of the intestine in Crohn’s disease. We hope to influence companies currently developing treatments to also test their medicine on patients suffering from severe forms and chronic inflammation of the lungs.