Discovery of KCa3.1-Inhibiting Antibodies for the Treatment of Asthma
Abstract
Asthma is a chronic disease associated with inflammation and spasms of the airways in the lungs. It is estimated that 26 million people suffer from asthma in the United States and recent decades have shown a concerning increase in the prevalence of asthma in both children and adults. The costs related to asthma have also been steeply increasing, from ~$12 billion in 1994 to ~$56 billion in 2011. It has also been shown that the frequency of development of asthma is considerably higher in U.S. Service Personnel compared to the civilian population. For the soldiers that have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan it is thought that exposure to fine sand particles, irritants and toxins related to burning trash in burn pits may be the cause. Currently asthma cannot be cured and treatment guidelines emphasize the use of preventive anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., inhaled corticosteroids) to control the disease symptoms. Treatment with corticosteroids helps to manage the disease for a majority of patients but for unknown reasons approximately 10 of patients are resistant to broadly immunosuppressive drugs
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1152359
Entities
People
- Ashot Papoyan
- Paul Colussi
Organizations
- TetraGenetics (United States)