Donna Jones
A Gympie woman is helping to highlight ground breaking research that could offer a potential cure for asthma and even repair lung damage.
37-year-old Krystal Harris is a Gympie resident, disability support worker and busy mum of a blended family of six children who has struggled with asthma her entire life.
She’s shared her story to support QIMR Berghofer medical research that could offer the potential cure.
Krystal said she had lost count of the number of times the ambulance had been called to help her.
“It’s really awful feeling like you’re suffocating. I’ve tried pretty much every different preventer that you could possibly think of. I get anxious if I don’t have a puffer nearby. It does make me scared not knowing what the future holds,” she said.
“This treatment would be a massive game changer that could really help people like myself and millions of others. It would improve my quality of life. If you have the opportunity to give, please donate. You might change the lives of asthma sufferers.”
QIMR Berghofer scientists have developed a treatment from an anti-inflammatory protein secreted by hookworms.
The parasitic hookworm produces and excretes the protein in an act of self-preservation to repair damage it causes to the gut and prolong the life of its host.
Known as AIP-2, the treatment has delivered remarkable results in preclinical testing in treating asthma and even repairing lung damage, but funding is urgently needed to take it from the laboratory and into clinical trials.
QIMR Berghofer is appealing for help this winter to progress development of the remarkable new drug that would transform the lives of millions of people reliant on current medications that only partially supress the symptoms.
QIMR Berghofer Mucosal Immunology Team Head Associate Professor Severine Navarro has isolated and produced the hookworm protein, known as Anti Inflammatory Protein 2 (AIP-2), which has delivered remarkable results in pre-clinical models.
Laboratory tests show that AIP-2 is extremely powerful in treating asthma and even repairing lung damage.
“I have never come across a treatment that was so long-lasting and so disease modifying. In the lab, AIP-2 is essentially a cure,” Professor Navarro said.
“I think it really could change the lives of millions of people and children in particular. All these people who rely on bronchodilators and taking corticosteroids on a regular basis could live a life free of medication.”
Despite the incredibly promising results, more funding is desperately needed to take AIP-2 from the laboratory and into clinical trials.
QIMR Berghofer is appealing for public donations to advance this potentially life-changing treatment.
1 in 10 Australians have asthma, a potentially life-threatening condition where the airways narrow and restrict breathing.
There is currently only medications to manage symptoms and they carry side effects.
“We want to bring this potential cure to the clinic,” Professor Navarro said.
“We want to bring this to patients. Our goal right now is to get this ready for a phase I clinical trial but that takes a lot of money.
“We really hope that Australians will help us to move this project forward so we can change the lives of people with asthma that much sooner,” she said.
To find out more visit Asthma Game-changer Appeal – QIMR Berghofer.