VIP could be used as asthma treatment

The effect of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) on asthma has been studied in order to shed light on any potential treatments.

In a report published by BMC Immunology journal, a team from the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine in the US noted that previous investigations had identified a number of unusual features of asthma in Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide knockout mice (VIP KO).

They found that there was peribronchiolar airway inflammation, with accumulation of lymphocytes and eosinophils, some pro-inflammatory cytokine production and airway hyper-responsiveness to inhaled methacholine.

Using mass chromatography processes, the team sought to examine the role of VIP in modulating anti-oxidant genes and their proteins, including lung carbonyl reductase.

Four male VIP KO mice and four wild-type age- and gender-matched mice were examined and it was found that a novel variant of anti-oxidant protein lung carbonyl reductase (car3) was uniquely and markedly elevated in the VIP KO mice.

The findings suggest that VIP influences the endogenous oxidant/antioxidant balance and may mean that it could be used as a treatment for inflammatory diseases.

Posted by Neil Clark