Cystic fibrosis is a degenerative disease of hereditary origin that mainly affects the lungs and the digestive system and can lead to persistent lung infections and limit the respiratory capacity of the affected person. It affects about 70,000 people worldwide and there is still no cure for it.
A team of American and European scientists – specifically from the universities of George Washington, Perugia and Rome – have just published a study in the journal Nature Medicine in which they report the discovery of a new possible therapy to deal with this disease .
Thymosin alfa-1 (Tα1), a synthetic peptide with immunomodulatory activity, is a drug that could treat and stop the progression of cystic fibrosis . This experimental monotherapy would not only correct the genetic and tissue defects, but it would also significantly reduce the inflammation suffered by these patients. So far the study has been carried out with mice and isolated cells from patients.
Allan L. Goldstein, co-author of the article and Emeritus Professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Residency at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, explains that “today there are many treatments for cystic fibrosis, and while these have dramatically improved life expectancy, this is still only about 40 years . And no treatment can be given alone. ” Goldstein adds that his research team, however, is “developing a treatment that, by itself, can potentially correct the genetic defects that cystic fibrosis causes and reduce the inflammation that comes with the disease.”
