Dr. Sarah Svenningsen and her team at The Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton have been awarded a significant grant of $994,000 over three years by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The grant will allow researchers to explore the potential impact of airway structure on asthma treatment and ultimately drive improvements in asthma management and treatment.
Approximately 3.8 million Canadians suffer from asthma, a chronic condition that affects the airways, making it difficult for people to breathe. Inhaled drugs are the primary treatment, but these drugs do not work for everyone.
The variability in inhaled drug treatment response is a mystery that Dr. Svenningsen and her team aim to solve through their research project, entitled “Therapeutic Relevance of Abnormal Airway Morphology in Asthma: A Path to Optimized Management and Drug Development (AirPATH Study).”
The structure of the airways – the ‘transit system’ for inhaled drugs – may play a crucial role in how well these treatments work. Using advanced CT and MRI imaging techniques, the research team will study the airways of 242 adults with uncontrolled eosinophilic asthma (a type of severe asthma).
After collecting detailed measurements of participants’ airway structure and function, the team will provide an increased dose of their inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for 12 weeks. Those whose asthma remains uncontrolled will then receive a 2-week course of oral prednisone. The team will measure patients’ responses to these treatments and determine whether abnormal airway structures impact how well patients respond to inhaled and orally delivered medications.
The research team hypothesize that abnormal airway structures make inhaled medications less effective, but do not affect the response to oral medications. Knowledge gained from this research could transform our understanding of why asthma treatment responses vary and potentially drive improvements in asthma management strategies.
"Our efforts are dedicated to reducing the substantial clinical, economic, and quality-of-life burden associated with asthma in Canada." says Dr. Svenningsen.
Dr. Svenningsen, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Translational Pulmonary Imaging, and co-principal investigator Dr. Parameswaran Nair, an expert clinician-scientist in asthma management, have a track record of collaborative success in clinical asthma research that integrates novel imaging techniques. They will lead a diverse team of internationally recognized scientists and clinicians to conduct this research.