Susan Gunst, Ph.D.
At any given time, a number of new therapies for the treatment of asthma are in various stages of investigation, and several novel approaches were discussed yesterday in the symposium “New Frontiers in Asthma Therapy.”
Session co-chair Susan Gunst, Ph.D., said the different approaches to asthma therapies described during the session are “quite exciting and different from the currently established therapeutic approaches.”
The presentations included both pharmacologic, as well as non-drug related modalities, and all have the potential to improve the treatment of asthma patients, said Dr. Gunst, who is professor of cellular and integrative physiology at Indiana University School of Medicine.
The symposium was co-chaired by Andrew Halayko, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.
New approaches to drug therapies highlighted in the symposium included presentations on inhibiting rhoA-rho kinase pathway signaling; the beneficial effects of statins on airway structure and function; p21 activated kinase (PAK) as a novel target for reducing airway inflammation and hyperreactivity; and a look at novel therapeutic strategies for targeting heterotrimeric G protein signaling in asthma.
“Some of these are novel approaches for regulating signaling, including efforts to identify a single molecular target that is useful in inhibiting both the inflammatory aspects of asthma and bronchial constriction with one drug,” Dr. Gunst said.
“The study involving statins is interesting because they’re already in widespread use, and we know they’re clinically safe,” she continued. “So finding a potential new application for statins is exciting.”
Two studies in the symposium involving non-drug therapies that hold promise for treating asthma included research into bronchial thermoplasty to limit airway narrowing and the investigation of chronic mechanical strain as a possible therapy.
The research into mechanical strain involves using ventilation method positive end-expiratory pressure, which is already used as an approved therapy for certain conditions. In bronchial thermoplasty, heat is applied to the airway to limit narrowing.
“The non-pharmacologic approaches are interesting because they could be used in patients to avoid adverse consequences of pharmacologic therapies or might be used on certain groups of patients that either don’t respond to, or who are difficult to treat, pharmacologically,” Dr. Gunst said.
Working on new therapies for the treatment of asthma and its symptoms that act on new targets with drugs or that promise relief using existing technologies is exciting and promising, she said.
“They may offer hope down the road for the many people who suffer from asthma,” Dr. Gunst concluded.