Danish scientists at the University of Copenhagen are successfully developing a new genetic method that could help create effective vaccines to treat asthma, cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
The authors of the project note that a breakthrough in the study is the creation of a common convenient platform for the development of a special type of vaccine that is effective and meets safety requirements. The main idea of the development is to imitate the structure of a virus, which is used as a platform, to which elements that do not cause harm are subsequently attached. They plan to conduct a test vaccination. This approach serves to create a common virus -like structure that allows the immune system to produce antibodies against the disease. This mechanism is complex for traditional vaccines.
The effectiveness of the technology is extremely high: by deceiving the immune system, it makes it attack the cells of its own body. This is planned to be used to treat serious diseases such as cancer and asthma. Scientists believe that the technique they have created will make it possible to develop vaccines against those diseases that science cannot effectively fight at present, including tuberculosis and malaria.

Asthma refractory to therapy

Some asthmatics are not helped by modern medicines, but now scientists can shed light on the reasons for this. The New Jersey researcher and his colleagues believe that the results of their work could give life to new methods of treating patients with bronchial asthma. They published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Research.
Some people with asthma can control their asthma by avoiding the triggers of the disease, allergens and others, and by medications such as inhaled corticosteroids. However, some asthma medications may not work for patients. The researchers deactivated a number of genes in mice, finding that this led to the development of a condition known as airway hypersensitivity (AHR), which is one of the mechanisms behind asthma. In this case, the airways acquire increased sensitivity to inhalation irritants. After analyzing the activity of the genes and comparing it with the gene activity of control mice that did not have AHR, they found that mice with AHR had increased levels of the neuropeptide. The researchers next set out to determine whether NPY might play a role in human asthma. Based on their results, the researchers suggest that blocking NPY activity in asthma patients may be a way to treat the disease, giving hope to patients who do not respond to conventional anti- asthma drugs.