New treatment hope for cystic fibrosis sufferers

Fresh insights into how cystic fibrosis affects immune cells could pave the way for new treatments.

Scientists have discovered that cells in patients with cystic fibrosis that normally defend against infection can also perpetuate damage to the lungs.

Drugs that target these cells could help to stem progression of the disease, claims Dr Robert Gray, of the Medical Research Council Centre for Inflammation Research at Edinburgh University. The report of research by his Edinburgh team, plus researchers in the US and Ireland, was published in the journal Thorax.