Stopping Cystic Fibrosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers may have found the key to stopping the fatal lung disease, cystic fibrosis.

Conflicting signals from the lungs seem to cause white blood cells, called neutrophils, to translate into a new protein and release an enzyme that destroys the elastic fiber of lung tissue, leading to the inflammation and lung damage seen in cystic fibrosis patients.

"We've found that patients' neutrophils become kind of schizophrenic, doing a number of things that are opposite to the textbook view of neutrophils' role," Rabindra Tirouvanziam, Ph.D., an instructor in pediatric pulmonary medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, was quoted as saying.

Study authors say their findings are in contrast to the widely held belief that bacteria trapped in the excess mucus in their lungs causes cystic fibrosis patients' lung problems. They also say their data could help researchers find new disease therapies.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online March 23, 2009