SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
How a Stomach Bug May Ward Off Asthma
from Science News
A bacterium that causes ulcers and stomach cancers may protect against asthma by teaching the immune system tolerance, a new study in mice shows.
Stomach cancer cases have dropped in North America and Europe as the number of people who carry the bacterium Helicobacter pylori has declined. At the same time, in places where the stomach bacterium is becoming scarce, rates of asthma have increased. Despite suspicions of a connection, hard evidence that the disappearance of the bacterium could be responsible for soaring asthma rates was lacking. "It was just sort of making links," says gastroenterologist John Atherton of the University of Nottingham in England, "but not really showing cause and effect."
Now, a group of European researchers led by Anne Müller of the University of Zurich report online February 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that Helicobacter coaxes immune cells to tolerate bacterial infections instead of fighting off bacteria with inflammation. The immune-system calming effect helps ward off asthma, which is caused by inflammation in the airways.
Read more...
Science in the Media
Newspapers:
Magazines and Web Sites:
The Science-Media Intersection:
Subscribe to Our Content!
Visit our RSS Feeds page to choose among 13 customized feeds, or create a free My AmSci account to request an email notice whenever a specified author, department or discipline appears online.