Research Profiles - Taking on the asthma bully
Asthma is a bully. It tends to pick on children, robbing them of the ability to do something most of us take for granted – breathe easily.
While adults suffer no less from the disease, it is particularly distressing to see children enduring asthma attacks that leave them gasping for air. Parents often say they feel helpless when their child suffers an attack.
The reason children are so susceptible is simple enough: they're little. Their lungs are smaller and their bronchial tubes are tiny. Also, their developing immune systems tend to over-react to allergens and viruses and then succumb to asthma.
Fortunately, our understanding of asthma is getting much better. We are getting better at recognizing what triggers the condition and what can be done to avoid those triggers.
As this month's research profiles demonstrate, Canada is particularly strong in asthma research. For example, Dr. Tobias Kollmann (A bacterial solution to asthma?) is doing first-rate work in developing a vaccine to block asthma from developing in newborn mice. It is an excellent strategy that we hope will help spare young children from this disease.
We are also learning that the common cold may not be as benign as we think. Dr. Richard Leigh (The cold truth) is investigating whether repeated exposures to the rhinovirus – the bug that makes us sniffle and cough – can create the right conditions for asthma to take hold.
Dr. Geoffrey Maksym (The wrong kind of workout) has done standout work in illustrating how, for people with asthma, the soft muscle cells that surround the airways become more efficient at doing what they shouldn't: cutting off the air supply. His work could lead to new treatments.
Canada's strength in asthma research is due in part to our expertise in conducting cohort studies – assessing the health of children as they move through childhood. Dr. Allan Becker (Year One) is a world leader in this area of research, and his pioneering work has proved how important the first year of life can be in determining who gets asthma. He is now investigating the possibility of an equally important window of opportunity for prevention in the teen years.
All this important research demonstrates the commitment of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to addressing this important public health concern. Asthma affects people of all ages – but hits hardest at the young. Canadian research is at the leading edge, but we need to go further. We want to prevent the problem altogether.
I am strongly optimistic that within 20 years, we will not be scratching our heads and wondering what we should be doing about asthma. We will have defeated the bully.
Dr. Peter Liu
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health
