For release: June 19, 1997, 6:00 p.m.
ATS Journal News Tips, June
No Health Insurance For Cystic Fibrosis Patients
Associated With Shorter Lives
In the past three decades, life expectancy for cystic fibrosis has
increased from 2 to 28 years, but that improved mortality picture does not
exist among those patients who do not have health insurance. Researchers
at the University of Washington note that the improved life expectancy can
be attributed to specialized CF centers staffed by trained
multidisciplinary teams; improved antibiotic therapy against
multi-resistant organisms which commonly infect CF patients; and, improved
nutritional support. They add, however, that increased survival depdends
to a large degree on whether patients have health insurance or not. Of 189
patients studied, those without health insurance (25% of patients) had an
average survival of 6.1 years. Those with Medicaid (10% o patients) or
private health insurance (65% of patients) had a survival rate of 20.5
years. Health insurance coverage, independent of socioeconomic status, was
the prime factor in the rate differential. The study was reported in the
June issue of the "American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine.
New Compound May Be Effective Antiallergic Treatment For Asthma
In asthmatics with allergies, exposure to allegens can make disease
symptoms much worse and more persistent. Canandian researchers attempted
to find out whether or not anti-IGE recombinant humanized monoclonal
antibody-E25 (rhuMab-E25) could serve as a powerful supressor of
allergin-induced responses in the airways of allergic asthmatics subjects.
For 10 weeks, they studied whether intravenous rhuMab-E25 could reduce
early asthmatic response in nine patients. They measured symptoms,
including shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, cough, and
sputum production. They reported large changes in the study group as
opposed to the placebo group. Investigators said that "changes of this
magnitude are equal to or exceed those reported with the most potent
bronchial anti-inflammatory agents, inhaled corticosteroids." The study
was reported in the June issue of the "American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine."
New Study Suggests Significant Implications for Gene Therapy for Cystic
Fibrosis
Chronic bacterial infections often lead to early death from respiratory
failure in Cystic Fibrosis patients. The most importan bacterium is
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, found in the sputum of 80% of CF patients. United
Kingdom researchers studied the effect of the CF transmembrane conductance
regulator (CFTR) on the increased binding of P. aeruginosa to nasal
epithelial cells from CF patients and from health controls. They found
increased binding of P aeruginosa when normal CFTR is absent and noted that
binding of the bacterium is significantly reduce in vitro liposome-mediated
CFTR gene transfer. They said ther findings suggest that mutant CFTR may
directly influence the pathogenesis of CF by facilitating bacterial
adherence. They conclude that the findings offer significant implications
for gene therpy against this deadly disease. The study was reported in the
June issue of the "American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular
Biology."
For the complete text of these articlesw or for more information, call
Christina Shepherd, American Thoracic Society, at (212) 315-6440 or fax her
at (212) 315-6455.
RSS