Laboratory results positive for cystic fibrosis treatment

Researchers from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in America have confirmed that laboratory results for a cystic fibrosis treatment have been successful.

According to the researchers, a new treatment for cystic fibrosis has tested positive in laboratory experiments, which could reduce the amounts of human deaths from the condition in the near future. Tests will soon get underway on monkeys, and if these are successful, human tests are expected to start within 12 to 18 months.

A long-term treatment for cystic fibrosis has not yet been found, and treatment methods currently involve the use of inhalers with a genetically altered cold virus that goes into the lungs and reverses the abnormalities that cause the disease.

However, the new treatment has been said to be more of a strategy than a one off cure. Dr. Ronald Crystal, head of the research team at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute told Earth Times: "It would not be a one-time cure, but the strategy is a cure.” So far, the researchers have successfully used the method in test tubes and have tried it on rats.

Cystic fibrosis effects hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and it causes the lungs to produce a thick mucus that eventually damages the lungs and leads to respiratory failure and death. This new research is the first time the underlying genetic cause of the disease has been attacked, which is an exciting area of study for those involved in the area. 

Dr Crystal said: "The idea has been obvious.

“The problem technically has been doing it."The researchers altered a common cold virus to carry the cystic fibrosis into the lungs of rats, which was modified in order to not cause damage. The lungs then picked up the correct gene, which instructs the cells in the lining to produce the right kind of protein. That protein, in turn, ensures that the abnormal transfers of sodium and chloride that cause the thick mucus don't occur.

Posted by Claire Manning