Breathing easy, the patients who beat lung infection

SCIENTISTS have discovered a new way to beat antibioticresistant infections – by depleting patients’ own immune system.

British researchers have successfully treated patients with resistant bronchiectasis, a debilitating lung disease, by removing antibodies from the bloodstream.

They believe that an excess of certain antibodies – proteins produced by white blood cells which can neutralise bacteria and viruses – can damage the body’s ability to respond to some diseases. Two patients in the study are believed to be the first successful cases using this technique to beat infections. Teams from Birmingham and Newcastle universities identified a 64-year-old man and a 69-yearold woman who were both suffering chronic chest infections resistant to many antibiotics.

The woman had previously been given 14 different drugs which had shown no benefits, but the new treatment led to a significant improvement in her condition. Both patients were able to leave hospital and return home, with the benefits continuing for months. They then returned for more treatment.

Bronchiectasis leads to permanent enlargement of the airways in the lung and affects more than 300,000 patients in the UK. Symptoms can include a chronic cough, shortness of breath and coughing up blood. The disease often affects those patients beyond the age at which lung transplantation is possible.

Professor Ian Henderson, who led the study, said: ‘Perhaps counter-intuitively, we decided to remove a particular antibody and the outcomes were wholly positive.’