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'Body Clock' Makes Drugs for Treating Asthma, Pneumonia Ineffective: Study

by Vishnuprasad on Jul 29 2014 3:54 PM

Drugs widely used to cure lung diseases, like asthma and pneumonia, work with the body clock, which makes them ineffective, found a new study.



The study, led by Professors David Ray and Andrew Loudon from the University of Manchester, has discovered that cells lining the lung airways have their own body clock which is the time-keeper for lung inflammation - both conditions cause lungs inflammation and more severe swelling in the lungs happens as a result of the loss of the body clock working in these cells.

Andrew Loudon said that they had found key molecule known as CXCL5 that facilitates lung inflammation which is a main regulator of how immune cells get into tissues.

The loss of CXCL5 completely blocks the time of day regulation of lung inflammation which opens up new ways to cure lung diseases.

The researchers also uncovered how glucocorticoid hormones from the adrenal gland are significant in curbing the level of inflammation in the cells lining the airway and concluded that the rhythm of the clock in the lining of the cells in the lungs is significant for lung diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive lung diseases.

Researchers said that they have defined a major circadian control on lung inflammation which affects responses to bacterial infection or pneumonia. They know that many pulmonary diseases indeed show a strong time of day effect, including asthma, and deaths from pneumonia.

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The study was published in Nature Medicine.



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Source-Medindia


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