Drugs widely used to treat asthma and pneumonia can become ineffective because they work with the lung cells’ body clock, researchers have found.
The research noted cells lining the airways have their own body clock which regulates levels of lung inflammation and also the entry of immune cells into lung tissue.
A molecule called CXCL5, along with glucocorticoid hormones, were found to be critical in controlling this body clock.
The loss of CXCL5 and subsequently the cells’ body clock, researchers found, led to more severe lung inflammation, meaning treatments for diseases such as asthma and pneumonia have less of an effect.
Read more at University of Manchester