Prostanoid receptors as targets for asthma and COPD therapy

哮喘是一种肺部炎症性疾病，影响了西方世界很大一部分人口，造成了巨大的卫生保健负担，其特征是胸闷和呼吸困难。英国有520万哮喘患者，其中有110万儿童（十分之一）和410万成年人（十二分之一）。每年平均有1400人死于哮喘，目前，英国国家医疗服务体系每年平均为哮喘花费8.89亿英镑。全球疾病负担研究将慢性阻塞性肺病列为1990年全球第6大最常见死因，现在已升至第4位。在英国，慢性阻塞性肺病每年导致约3万人死亡，死亡率几乎是欧洲平均水平的两倍，去年因慢性阻塞性肺病死亡的女性人数超过了乳腺癌。炎症被认为是哮喘和慢性阻塞性肺病的发展和症状的核心。体内自然产生的一种化学物质可以通过与一个或多个蛋白质家族的相互作用打开气道，减少炎症。不幸的是，这种化学物质也会引起咳嗽。这项研究的目的是试图确定哪些蛋白质参与了这种化学物质的有益反应，哪些参与了有害的咳嗽反应。希望这项工作可以导致一种新药的发现，这种新药可以选择性地针对有益的过程，从而产生一种治疗方法，可以帮助这些患有这些衰弱性疾病的患者。

Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the lung that affects a large percentage of the population in the Western world and represents a huge health care burden and is characterised by chest tightness and breathing difficulties. There are 5.2 million asthma sufferers in the UK, 1.1 million children (1 in 10) and 4.1 million adults (1 in 12). On average, 1400 people die from asthma each year, and asthma now costs the NHS an average of #889 million per year. The Global Burden of Disease studies ranked COPD as the 6th commonest cause of death worldwide in 1990 and this has now risen to 4th. In the UK COPD now causes about 30,000 deaths a year and mortality is almost double the European average, with COPD killing more women than breast cancer last year.Inflammation is believed to be central to the development and symptoms of asthma and COPD. A naturally occurring chemical in the body can open the airways and reduce the inflammation through interactions with one or more of a family of proteins. Unfortunately, this chemical also causes cough. The aim of this study is to try to determine which of the proteins are involved in the beneficial responses and which in the detrimental cough response of the chemical. The hope is that this work may lead to the discovery of a novel drug which could selectively target the beneficial processes leading to the production of a therapy that could help these patients who suffer from these debilitating diseases.