We\u2019re both part of the CURE Asthma initiative \u2013 a coalition of researchers and clinicians \u2013 with a plan<\/a>. <\/p>\n Why are we so concerned?<\/p>\n Asthma is a chronic (long-term) inflammatory condition of the airways<\/a>. Inflammation and narrowing of the airways lead to respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing. These symptoms can come and go, or persist.<\/p>\n Over the past 15 years or so, national surveys in several countries show a pattern of worse symptoms and more attacks<\/a>, regardless of whether asthma is mild, moderate or severe.<\/p>\n In some people with asthma, the airways can become permanently narrowed from very early on<\/a>. This can mean someone\u2019s asthma doesn\u2019t respond as well to treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2024<\/a>, 478 Australians died from asthma. In 2023\u20132024 there were about 32,000 hospitalisations where asthma was the main cause. Some 90% of these hospitalisations were potentially preventable with better community care.<\/p>\n In 2023\u20132024, Australia\u2019s health system spent an estimated A$1.3 billion<\/a> on asthma. Yet outcomes over the past decade \u2013 such as more people with good asthma control and with fewer attacks \u2013 have stalled or worsened. <\/p>\n Much of this burden is preventable and a cure would eliminate the problem. A recent blueprint for asthma reform in Australia<\/a> outlines the policy and practice changes that could help this happen. <\/p>\n From improved symptoms to remission<\/p>\n In about 20\u201330%<\/a> of cases (usually children), asthma gets better by itself and goes into \u201cspontaneous remission\u201d. This is where symptoms reduce and airway tissue returns to normal. So, in principle, all asthma should be curable.<\/p>\n People with severe disease who take certain biological asthma therapies<\/a> that target inflammatory pathways can also experience what\u2019s called sustained \u201con treatment\u201d remission<\/a>. This means<\/a> excellent symptom control, no attacks, no need for reliever medications and optimised lung function. If asthma remission is sustained, treatment can be reduced but only under careful medical supervision.<\/p>\n The more we learn about the underlying mechanisms of asthma \u2013 especially what happens in people in lasting spontaneous remission who no longer take medication \u2013 the closer a cure becomes.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s a cure, then?<\/p>\n A cure<\/a> should include:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n sustained elimination, that is, no symptoms over a long period and normal airway function<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n resolution (normalisation) of the underlying disease, which might include no sustained inflammation or narrowing of the airways<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n resetting of the molecular processes that drive asthma. For instance, markers of inflammation would be similar to someone without asthma, or someone\u2019s lung tissue no longer holds \u201cmolecular memories\u201d of being permanently diseased.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n A cure could be due to a new type of medicine that \u201cturns off\u201d asthma or \u201cresets\u201d the underlying \u201cmolecular memory\u201d processes that otherwise sustain disease. This means ongoing medication would no longer be needed.<\/p>\n We\u2019d also need to know asthma has been \u201ccured\u201d by testing for a specific biomarker or combination of biomarkers in the blood, airway tissue or exhaled air. These biomarkers could be specific molecules or physical characteristics, for instance.<\/p>\n After three to five years, confirmed by tissue repair and biomarkers, we would have confidence the underlying mechanisms have truly been turned off and asthma has been cured.<\/p>\n How could we get there?<\/p>\n Documentation<\/a> of spontaneous remissions<\/a> and other evidence<\/a> shows asthma is reversible.<\/p>\n We also know which risk factors for asthma \u2013 such as family history, history of allergy, smoking or obesity, and exposure to poor air quality \u2013 interact and play out at the molecular level. These interactions amplify disease processes, make it harder for symptoms to resolve and mean airway tissue remains \u201chard-wired\u201d in a diseased state.<\/p>\n For example, all children get viral respiratory infections, but a combination of genetic risks and exposures cause some to acquire changes<\/a> in the cells lining their airways that lead to persistent asthma.<\/p>\n By combining these tiers of information with \u201cmachine learning\u201d technologies (artificial intelligence) we could create<\/a> \u201cdigital twins<\/a>\u201d of real patients. We could then learn more about the mechanisms behind their disease, and match them to computer-generated drugs. These so-called \u201cin silico\u201d drugs could then be tested in simulations, made, refined and developed.<\/p>\n Current asthma medicines dampen the drivers of disease, especially some types of inflammation, and suppress symptoms. However, these future medicines would \u201ccorrect and reprogram\u201d diseased cells back to health.<\/p>\n For this and other initiatives towards an asthma cure, we need to prioritise our research efforts, with the funding to match.<\/p>\n Naming the ambition and potential to cure asthma marks an essential change in our thinking and expectations. Christine Jenkins<\/a>, Head, Respiratory Program, George Institute for Global Health<\/a>; UNSW Sydney<\/a>; University of Sydney<\/a> and Gary Anderson<\/a>, Professor and Director of the Centre for Lung Health Research, The University of Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asthma is conventionally viewed as \u201ctreatable but incurable\u201d. In other words, we can manage its symptoms but not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,69596,137,111612,111613,129868,1721,337,69597,69598],"class_list":["post-751955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-division-of-equity-diversity-inclusion","tag-health","tag-healthy-lives","tag-medicine-health","tag-networks-and-partnerships","tag-opinion","tag-research","tag-sdg","tag-sdg3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782094155_682_count.gif\")
<\/p>\n