cf patients

(University of Bristol) A new drug therapy may represent a tremendous step forward in the treatment of some 70,000 cystic fibrosis patients worldwide, Dr.

David Sheppard from the University of Bristol will tell an audience at the BA Festival of Science in Liverpool tomorrow.Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr.

Sheppard said:"The early results with VX-770 suggest that drug therapies which target defects at the root of the disease have the potential to improve greatly the quality of life of CF patients."

By manipulating the machinery used by our cells for quality control, researchers have found a way to restore the function of cystic fibrosis (CF) airway cells.

This could significantly reduce the sticky mucus that plugs the lungs of CF patients, which leads to antibiotic-resistant infections and untimely death.

(Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) By manipulating the machinery used by our cells for quality control, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have found a way to restore the function of cystic fibrosis (CF) airway cells.

This could significantly reduce the sticky mucus that plugs the lungs of CF patients, which leads to antibiotic-resistant infections and untimely death.

The study appears in the September 2008 print issue of the FASEB Journal.

At a recent symposium researchers discussed some of the unique challenges in achieving excellent lung transplant outcomes in patients with CF.

Patients with life threatening lung disease due to CF have a lot to gain by lung transplantation. Compared to other possible indications for transplant, patients with CF have, in general, the best outcomes, and a successful transplant can mean a significant increase in lifespan and a huge improvement in quality of life.