Asthma is defined as a chronic disease characterized by sudden attacks that affect breathing and can be serious in some cases.
In an effort to reduce these attacks, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham and the Swedish Karolinska Institute conducted a study that relied on analyzing microparticles in the blood of more than 2,500 asthma sufferers, using an approach known as "metabolic science".
Researchers have discovered a link between specific types of fats known as sphingolipids and steroid hormones that the body naturally produces and that play a crucial role in regulating inflammation. Measuring the ratio between these two can help estimate a patient's likelihood of experiencing an asthma attack within the next five years. (Sphingolipids are complex fats that are components of cell membranes and play a vital role in regulating cell signaling and the functions of the immune and nervous systems.)
The team explained that this method not only determines the level of risk, but may also enable the estimation of the time frame prior to the occurrence of the first attack, whether in high-risk or low-risk patients, with a time difference that may reach up to a full year.
The principal investigator at the Karolinska Institute, Craig Willock, said that the interaction between sphingolipids and steroids is the decisive factor in determining the level of risk, stressing that the ratio-based approach has strong biological significance and high analytical capability, making it suitable for development as a practical and cost-effective clinical test.
The study relied on data from three major asthma studies, including decades-long electronic records, in which researchers tested different models to compare molecules.
The results showed that the new model successfully identified high-risk patients with an accuracy of nearly 90% when combined with drug use data and genetic history, compared to an accuracy of between 50% and 70% for traditional models that rely on clinical information alone.
The researchers noted that the study's findings highlight the potential for these laboratory tests to be easily implemented in the future, but further testing is still needed before they can be adopted in medical practice. The team also announced that they have filed a patent application for the technology.
