The incidence of asthma is rising as more Americans subsist on high-fat, low-fiber diets, especially in low-income urban populations where air quality is also an issue, and as a result, health disparities are widening based on socioeconomic status. In fact, experts predict 100 million new asthma diagnoses worldwide by the year 2025.<\/p>\n
With funding through a $100,000 grant award from the\u00a0Flinn Foundation<\/a>\u00a0under its Translational Research in Precision Medicine Seed Grant Initiative, Emily Cope<\/strong>, NAU assistant professor of microbiology and assistant director of the\u00a0Pathogen and Microbiome Institute<\/a>, is working on a novel therapeutic for asthma. Although there is no cure for this complex disease, Cope recently launched a two-year clinical study to determine whether adding low-cost prebiotic soluble fiber supplements to a patient\u2019s diet can help improve asthma symptoms. Her theory is that as a patient’s gut microbes metabolize the supplements, the resulting increase in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) will reduce airway inflammation, alleviating symptoms and improving quality of life.<\/p>\n Previous studies have shown a surprising connection between dysfunction of the gut, or gastrointestinal microbiome, the regulation of immune function and the development of pulmonary diseases such as asthma.<\/p>\n \u201cEmerging evidence indicates that there is great potential in manipulating the gut microbiome-lung axis to treat airway diseases,\u201d said Cope.<\/p>\n Because economically disadvantaged populations typically get less fiber in their diets for a variety of reasons, this health disparity is contributing to higher rates of asthma among these populations.<\/p>\n \u201cOur study will lead to the development of safe, accessible therapeutics that will augment current treatment strategies to reduce asthma severity,\u201d said Cope. \u201cWe think that this could be a low-cost dietary supplement that could improve the quality of life for these asthmatics and help achieve health equity.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinical study to recruit patients from Phoenix Children\u2019s Hospital<\/strong><\/p>\n Collaborating with Mayo Clinic physicians Matthew Rank and Devyani Lal, Phoenix Children\u2019s Hospital pediatric pulmonologist James Woodward, as well as with NAU associate professor Andy Koppisch, Cope\u2019s clinical study will focus on a cohort of patients from the Severe Asthma Clinic at Phoenix Children\u2019s Hospital. The team is recruiting 10-20 children, ages 6-17 years old, who are suffering from a specific type of airway inflammation from asthma. In this double-blind study, randomly assigned participants will ingest soluble corn fiber in a fruit-flavored beverage over a 4-week period, while others will ingest a placebo. The team will test blood, stool and nasal samples before and after the fiber intervention to measure the outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe overall goal of our program is to improve asthma outcomes in children and adults suffering from this complex disease by manipulating the gut microbiome-lung axis,\u201d said Cope. \u201cOur study combines basic science with clinical asthma outcomes in a carefully selected cohort of asthmatic children. Our analysis of the changes in the gut microbiome during and after fiber supplementation will drive additional hypothesis-driven mechanistic studies to determine how SCFAs interact with mature and immature immune cells leading to reduced inflammation in the lung, and whether baseline gut microbial communities relate to differential clinical outcomes toward the goal of personalized medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe collaboration Dr. Cope is leading with colleagues at Mayo Clinic and Phoenix Children\u2019s Hospital provides a compelling illustration of what the Flinn Foundation aims to accomplish with this translational-research initiative,\u201d said Mary O\u2019Reilly, Flinn Foundation Vice President, Bioscience Research Programs. \u201cHere you have academic researchers and clinicians coming together to target in a new way a chronic disease affecting hundreds of millions of people. The potential benefit to Arizonans and the world is profound.\u201d<\/p>\n SHERC pilot study laid the groundwork for this project<\/strong><\/p>\n An earlier pilot study Cope conducted as part of the\u00a0Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative<\/a>\u00a0(SHERC) laid the groundwork for this Flinn Foundation project. Working with NAU associate professors Greg Caporaso and Andy Koppisch, Cope conducted tests on mice to see how the fiber supplements affected their airway inflammatory response.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that in addition to the SHERC study, this current project will lead to a five-year National Institutes of Health RO1 grant,\u201d said Cope. \u201cThis funding opportunity will also significantly contribute to establishing a clinical-translational research program between NAU and Mayo Clinic Scottsdale to address novel therapeutic strategies in children with airway inflammation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"NAU](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png\")
<\/a>Kerry Bennett |\u00a0Office of the Vice President for Research
\n(928) 523-5556 | kerry.bennett@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n