Asthma is a disease that causes inflammation in the airways due to abnormal reactions by some people to their environment. Each year the Asthma Foundation WA supports local research projects that have been judged by independent, international and national assessors of the highest quality.
This year, the projects that have received support will examine:
· Stem cell therapy for asthma.
· Can tolerogenic bone marrow-derived dendritic cells be boosted in inflammatory airways disease?
· Measurement of bronchial hyper-responsiveness in young children: Mannitol and exercise challenge testing.
· Is there an association between parental and infant GSTP1 sequence variation and promoter methylation, with effects on infant lung health outcomes in early life?
Ongoing projects that have received support and are either ongoing or finalised:
· Effects of nanoparticle exposure upon dendritic cell function in the developing respiratory tract.
· The role of epigenetics in the global prevalence of asthma - "East-West" pilot study.
· Does Vitamin D deficiency in utero and early childhoold increase the severity of asthma?
· The kallikrein-kinin system in asthma: modulation of high molecular weight kininogen binding proteins by pro-inflammatory stimuli associated with disease.*
· Airway smooth muscle in non-eosinophillic asthma.*
· Identification of instrinisically abnormal processes in asthmatic epithelium independant of atopy.*
· IgE facilitated CD23 binding assay.
· What is the role of PGE2 and EP receptors in epithelial cell function in asthma?
· The role of CD103 in airway homeostatis and inflammatory reactions.
· Interaction of prenatal exposure to house dust mite and unflued-gas appliances on immune responses at birth.
· The effects of in utero tobacco smoke exposure in a murine model of asthma.
* Final reports available - request at researchgrants@asthmawa.org.au
Through this support, Western Australia enjoys a high standing internationally in the investigation of asthma and is recognised as a leader in the fight to overcome this disease that directly affects the lives of 1 in 5 West Australians.
Please click here to view a summary of research projects we have funded over the past few years.