COPD New therapeutic approach against previously incurable smoker's cough

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases curable in the future?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, also known as smoker's cough) has so far been considered incurable. However, scientists have now identified two new drug candidates that could be the breakthrough in the treatment of COPD. The active ingredients inhibit the inflammatory processes in the lungs and thus prevent the progression of the disease.

The hitherto incurable disease COPD is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide and is usually triggered by smoking, the researchers explain in a statement from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) on the current study results. The two identified anti-inflammatory substances would have been shown to be effective in the preclinical studies against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The study results were published in the journal "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology".

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is usually triggered by smoking and is considered to be incurable. Two new active ingredients could revolutionize treatment here in the future. (Image: Ljupco Smokovski / fotolia.com)

More than 10 percent of the world population suffer from COPD

COPD is characterized by chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract. Over time, this leads to irreversible damage to the lung tissue and lung function is increasingly impaired. "Experts estimate that 11.7 percent of the world's population currently suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," says the RUB. Most of the disease develops from chronic bronchitis and it is mainly caused by tobacco smoking. While therapies available today can alleviate the symptoms and slow the progression of COPD, they can not stop it.

Inflammatory processes are crucial for the course of the disease

"Apart from a drug that can be used to treat very severe COPD in a particular group of patients, there are currently no other nonsteroidal-based therapies that target inflammation, which is central to the progression of the disease "; the scientists report. The inflammatory processes are regulated by special enzymes, so-called protein kinases. These "are indirectly overactivated by smoking, by COPD-characteristic inflammatory agents and by respiratory infections," according to the RUB. As a result, the body produces even more inflammatory substances, which contributes significantly to the progression of the lung disease.

Available drugs so far inadequately suitable

Although available anti-inflammatory agents such as inhaled corticosteroids help according to the RUB in other chronic inflammatory lung diseases and can proactively prevent the symptoms get worse acutely. However, therapy with them is currently recommended only in combination with bronchodilating drugs and in patients whose symptoms often worsen.

New active ingredients wanted

The research team around private lecturer Jürgen Knobloch from the pneumology clinic at the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil in Bochum, Prof. dr. Andrea Koch from the University Clinic of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Prof. Dr. med. Erich Stoelben from the Lung Clinic Cologne-Merheim has now, together with scientists from the company RespiVert, a subsidiary of Janssen Biotech, looking for new anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of COPD.

In search of new drug candidates against COPD, the researchers came up with the so-called Narrow Spectrum Kinase Inhibitors, which inhibit the inflammatory processes. (Image: science photo / fotolia.com)

What are Narrow Spectrum Kinase Inhibitors?

Here, the scientists saw a promising approach in the so-called "Narrow Spectrum Kinase Inhibitors" (short NSKI). These inhibit protein kinases. Two special NSKIs - called RV1088 and RV568 - were identified by the company RespiVert and made available for the investigations. In cell cultures, the scientists tested the NSKI and compared their effectiveness with a conventional corticosteroid and various single protein kinase inhibitors, which are also considered as drug candidates, reports the RUB.

Convincing effect of the new NSKI

In the experiments, the two NSKIs proved to be more effective than the comparison substances in inhibiting the production of inflammatory substances. "Our study shows that NSKIs are promising candidates to develop much needed anti-inflammatory therapies in COPD," Dr. Knobloch. Although first successes have been achieved in preclinical models with the single protein kinase inhibitors, it has already been suggested "that the effect would not be sufficient in clinical application." Because with such a specific inhibition would simply other protein kinases the inflammatory regulation take over.

Breakthrough in COPD treatment

The scientists were therefore looking for drugs that covered a wider range of protein kinases. They tested drug candidates "that target not only a protein kinase or a family of protein kinases, but a specific set of protein kinase families," explains the RUB. The active ingredients were subsequently tested on cultured primary airway smooth muscle cells from COPD patients. The researchers are optimistic about the results. "The new potential drugs could be a breakthrough in the treatment of COPD," the study authors conclude. (Fp)