Why are Asthma Patients Less Likely to Develop Brain Tumors? Neurologists Finally Figure It Out

Neurologists said they finally figured out why asthmatic people seem to develop fewer brain tumors. Recent findings are praised as a potential stepping stone to developing future treatments for both conditions.

Understanding Asthma in the US

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According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Asthma causes swelling of a person's airways. This results in narrowed airways that carry air from the nose to the lungs. Allergens or irritation entering the lungs triggers asthma symptoms. These symptoms may include wheezing, trouble breathing, coughing, and tightness of the chest.

Asthma can be deadly for many; however, there is no cure for the condition. But it can be managed with proper care and asthma prevention treatments.

Currently, roughly 25 million Americans live with asthma, or 1 in 13, including 8% of adults and 7% of children. Roughly 20 million adults age 18 have asthma in the US and is more common in adult women than men. With an average daily death rate of 10.

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Asthma Patients Less Likely to Develop Brain Tumors, Says Neurologists

The mysterious connection between brain tumors and asthma started buzzing in the global epidemiological research 15 years ago; however, without proper mechanisms linking the two conditions, experts often dismissed the findings as random.

However, a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, titled "Asthma reduces glioma formation by T cell decorin-mediated inhibition of microglia," suggests that there may exist a relationship between the two.

In 2015, researchers published an initial study noting that some children genetically prone to tumors along the optic brain pathway did not develop asthma at the same rate as expected from the general population. Further research found evidence that the children's tumors were driven by interactions between some immune cells in the child's brain known as T-cells and microglia and the optic nerve.

Since asthma is generally a T-cell mediated inflammatory disease, neurologists began exploring the connection between the immune cells and the two conditions.

To further test their idea, researchers used mouse models. After modifying the genetics of the mice so that they were prone to optic nerve tumors, the authors of the study then induced asthma among litters at 4-6 weeks of age. Curiously enough, mice-induced asthma didn't show evidence of brain tumors at 3 and 6 months old. Meanwhile, mice without asthma showed the expected brain cancer development.

Findings suggest that something about asthma damages the lungs while helping the brain. Upon closer analysis of both groups of mice revealed a difference in the T-cells' behavior. David Gutmann, the co-author of the study from Washington University, says that the team isn't going to start inducing asthma in people since the disease can be lethal. However, if they could come up with a way to trick the T-cells into thinking they're asthma T-cells when entering the brain, the cells would no longer support brain tumor growth and formation, reports ScienceAlert.