View clinical trials related to Asthma.
Filter by:Asthma is one of the most common diseases affecting about 2.5 million Canadians, and can result in reduced quality of life and difficulties with work and school. Once the disease has become established with irreversible changes in the lungs it can be very difficult to treat. Severe asthma although less common than mild asthma uses more healthcare resources. The objective of this project is to find out how the changes in the lung develop in severe asthma. Once this is known then new treatments can be developed to prevent irreversible damage to the lungs. Volunteers will have substances sprayed up their nose and then samples collected from their nose. Levels of proteins and cells can be measured in these samples. This will give an indication of the type of inflammation that occurs. The usual method of investigating the changes that occur in asthma is to challenge the lungs. Samples have to then be collected from the lungs. This can be in the form of sputum which must be treated to break it down to a liquid or washed out during a camera test. These methods cause problems with measuring proteins and they are broken down or diluted. Because the nose is easily accessible samples can be obtained at many time points. Because the samples can be collected directly from the nose the problems with obtaining samples from the lung are avoided.
During the second week of September( week 38 of the year)there are recorded data of exacerbation of asthma all over the world, including Israel. A short preventive treatment of 6 weeks may reduce asthma exacerbation in children,reduce primary care and ER visiting and hospitalization.
We, the investigators, hypothesise that there are distinct gene profiles in rhinovirus-induced acute exacerbations of asthma. We further hypothesise that these changes in gene expression involve both known mediators of the asthma phenotype as well as other molecules not previously associated with asthma. The primary objective of this study is to use gene array analysis to determine differentially expressed genes in bronchial epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages from normal and asthmatic subjects before and during rhinovirus infection in vivo. A secondary objective is to determine whether any altered expressions are related to symptom severity, virus load, lung function or airway inflammation in vivo. We plan to recruit 45 subjects: 15 healthy volunteers, 15 asthmatics naïve to inhaled corticosteroid therapy, and 15 asthmatics on inhaled corticosteroids who will undergo two bronchoscopies, one prior to infection with rhinovirus and the second 4 days post inoculation. Bronchial brushings, biopsies and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) will be performed. RNA will be extracted with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) and purified by passage through RNeasy columns (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Exon 1.0ST array chips (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) will be used to analyse changes in gene expression. These are the most powerful genome expression tools available with 1.4 million probe sets and over 5.5 million features per array. Genes found to be significantly upregulated will be confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. Using a novel method of collecting undiluted bronchial epithelial lining fluid (bronchosorption) large numbers of proteins will be measured with a MesoScale Discovery multiplexed array system (MesoScale Discovery, Gaithersburg, Md) allowing further confirmation of the gene array results as well as providing in vivo evidence of dysregulated protein production in asthmatics. Gene expression and protein levels will be correlated with viral load, symptom scores, lung function and airway inflammation in vivo. This study represents the first comprehensive evaluation of changes in bronchial epithelial gene expression during rhinovirus infection in vivo and therefore has the potential to provide significant insights into the host response in asthma and identify potential novel targets for further evaluation.
Background: - Innate immunity is the process by which white blood cells and other parts of the immune system sense and respond to potential infections by causing an inflammation. Researchers are interested in studying how the body responds to certain environmental factors, and whether the body s response can contribute to chronic illnesses or diseases such as asthma and certain types of cancers. Objectives: - To examine how specific genes and proteins in blood cells respond to environmental exposures. Eligibility: - Healthy volunteers between 18 and 45 years of age. Design: - The study will involve one visit of 45 to 60 minutes. - Participants will be screened with a brief physical examination and finger stick to determine if they are eligible to donate blood for the study, and will complete a questionnaire about any medications or other drugs (e.g., cigarettes) they may be taking. - Participants will provide a blood sample for research purposes.
Hypothesis- Omalizumab(humanized monoclonal anti-IgE antibody)improves disease control and reduces bronchial mucosal inflammation in non-atopic asthma. In order to test the above hypothesis, the investigators propose a placebo controlled, double blind, parallel group study to obtain proof of principle that omalizumab exerts beneficial effects on disease control in non-atopic severe adult asthmatics aged 18-60 years . Forty patients will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive omalizumab or matching placebo. Following 12 weeks of treatment with omalizumab/placebo, and as this treatment is continued for a further 8 weeks, anti-asthma treatment will be reduced. Dosages will be administered at 4 or 2 weekly intervals over a 16 week period (5 or 10 doses in total), which corresponds with the time stated as necessary to judge efficacy of therapy according to omalizumab's licensed indications in atopic asthma. Efficacy will be judged by clinical monitoring and by bronchial biopsy to assess effects on bronchial inflammation and local IgE production.
Asthma is a common inflammatory airway disease. Several researches have demonstrated a possible connection between asthma and exposure to paracetamol. Our hypothesis is that even a single dose of paracetamol is sufficient to cause a measurable change in lung functions. This trial aims to identify a possible effect of single dose paracetamol on lower airway function.
The purpose of the trial is to asses the efficacy and safety of sublingual annual immunotherapy in children with bronchial asthma and/or allergic rhinitis allergic to house dust mites.
To determine if treatment of pre-school children with a history of wheeze who present to an Emergency Department with an acute wheezing episode with azithromycin for 5 days will resolve their symptoms more quickly, will require less short acting beta agonist (SABA), and allow these children to remain symptom free for a longer period of time.
Background: in various pediatric pulmonary diseases such as asthma, cystic fibrosis or bronchopulmonary dysplasia an increased inflammation is present. Measuring this inflammation is often hardly possible and requires invasive techniques such as bronchoscopy. With the use of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) or exhaled breath (EB) analysis it is possible to measure the inflammation in an non-invasive way. However, there is a great need to further standardise these measurements and to identify possible confounding factors.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the status of allergic diseases in the Korean military personnel.