Development of novel therapy regarding chronic sinusitis may be promoted by a new target
A protein known for stimulating blood vessel growth is responsible for the cell overgrowth in the development of polyps highlighting one of the most severe forms of sinusitis, as per researchers at the Johns Hopkins.
It is believed by many scientists that this finding may be more than just helpful for development of novel therapies to treat this disease form that typically resists all current treatments.
From News-Medical.Net:
“This type of sinusitis isn’t subtle-you can spot the patients with polyps from across the room. They’re breathing through their mouths, they talk with nasal voices, they’re constantly sniffling, and their faces are swollen,” says Jean Kim, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology and Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Allergy and Asthma Center at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Kim explains that surgery to remove the polyps is one of the most common treatments for this disease. However, nasal and sinus polyps in these patients almost always regrow. “Once the patient has entered the cycle of growing polyps, it’s very hard to get out,” she says. Another common treatment is oral steroids, but these drugs are fraught with many harmful side effects and also only temporarily treat the disease.
Chronic sinusitis is a common condition concerned with constant irritation and swelling of the nasal passages and is believed to affect one out of every six people.
It was suggested by the finding that doctors can treat sinusitis in patients with polyps by using therapies capable of reducing VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) in sinus tissues.
