Nat commun: new detection methods may lead to individualized treatment of cystic fibrosis

April 30, 2019 news / Bio Valley bio on / - cystic fibrosis is a devastating disease caused by CFTR gene mutation But not all cystic fibrosis patients have the same symptoms, or have the same response to drug treatment In a new cutting-edge study, researchers at the University of Cambridge and Yale University developed a novel, direct way to test multiple drugs on cells of patients with cystic fibrosis, thereby increasing the possibility of personalized drug therapy Photo source: nature communications this test combines a high-speed video microscope with a new video analysis algorithm to measure the coordinated movement of ciliated structures covering respiratory cells, which can clear mucus from the lungs and upper respiratory tract In the cystic fibrosis patients, thick mucus layer is accumulated in the airway, which leads to chronic infection, thus hindering the respiration and disturbing the normal ciliary movement The team used their tests to study the movement of cell surface cilia from patients with cystic fibrosis who had multiple gene mutations and compared the samples with normal cells They then measured the cells' response to six different drugs, including drugs that have not yet been approved for cystic fibrosis The researchers found that patients respond differently to drugs, suggesting that drugs that work for one person may not work for another, even if everyone carries the same mutation Looking to the future, researchers hope their tests can be used to drive more personalized treatments for this life-threatening disease Maurizio chioccioli is a postdoctoral researcher in pulmonary, intensive care and sleep medicine at Yale University, and the first author of this paper published in nature communications Reference materials: M chioccioli et al Phenomenng Urban Dynamics and coordination in response to CFTR modules in cyclic fibrosis response cell, nature communications (2019) Doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09798-3