AsianScientist (Apr. 15, 2019) – An international team of scientists has discovered that patients with the lung disease bronchiectasis also often display sensitivity to airborne allergens, especially to fungi and dust mites. Their findings are published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Bronchiectasis is a chronic disease in which parts of the airways become enlarged due to irreversible damage to the lungs. Patients find it hard to expel phlegm and are more prone to bacterial, viral or fungal infection. These complications can be fatal if left untreated, and the disease has no effective cure.
In the present study, scientists led by Assistant Professor Sanjay Haresh Chotirmall at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in collaboration with local and international colleagues, assessed over 200 bronchiectasis patients from Singapore, Malaysia and Scotland.
While previous bronchiectasis research focused on non-Asian populations, this study matched patients in Asia to patients in Europe in terms of age, gender and the severity of bronchiectasis. The matching of patients allowed researchers to control the influence of these factors and hence show that the types and causes of allergies associated with bronchiectasis vary across regions.
The researchers found that, overall, bronchiectasis patients have high allergy rates to fungi and the common house dust mite. The study showed that 58 percent of bronchiectasis patients were sensitive to at least one allergen, compared to a group of patients with allergic rhinitis of which 27 percent were sensitive to at least one allergen.
Bronchiectasis patients in Singapore and Malaysia showed greater sensitivity to the house dust mite and major allergens of the species Aspergillus fumigatus, while patients from Scotland showed greater sensitivity to the minor allergens of A. fumigatus. A major allergen refers to a specific protein of the fungus where a detected allergy is more common, and a minor allergen is one where the allergy it causes is less common.
“It is clear that we need to understand our local diseases better, as our research findings clearly illustrate that Asian patients with bronchiectasis are different to those seen in other countries. By understanding such differences, we can tailor our treatment appropriately,” said Chotirmall.
“There are already existing treatments for these allergies. For example, steroids are commonly used to treat fungal allergy. Our finding is important for improving the quality of life of those with bronchiectasis, as currently there are no licensed treatments for it,” he added.
The Singapore team members will next look at understanding further differences in Singaporean patients and identify specific environmental factors associated with bronchiectasis.
The article can be found at: Aogáin et al. (2019) Distinct “Immunoallertypes” of Disease and High Frequencies of Sensitization in Non–Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis.
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Source: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
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