Now a cheaper blood test to diagnose asthma

Researchers have developed a faster, cheaper and more accurate tool for diagnosing even mild cases of asthma using just a single drop of blood. The researchers used neutrophil cell function in a clinical study to show accurate asthma diagnosis. To directly diagnose asthma, David Beebe, a UW-Madison professor of biomedical engineering and co-author on the paper, and his team focused on the cell function of neutrophils. Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cell in the body and generally are the first cells to migrate toward inflammation. 'Neutrophils are sort of like a dog tracking something. They sense a chemical gradient, like an odor, in the body,' Beebe says.

In other words, the human body emits chemical signals in response to inflammation or wounds and the neutrophils detect those chemical signals and migrate to the site of the wound to aid in the healing process. Researchers can track the velocity at which the neutrophil cells migrate the chemotaxis velocity to differentiate nonasthmatic samples from the significantly reduced chemotaxis velocity of asthmatic patients. (Read: Diagnosis and treatment of Asthma)

UW-Madison students have developed the kit-on-a-lid-assay (KOALA) microfluidic technology, which allows them to detect neutrophils using just a single drop of blood. The KOALA diagnostic procedure uses simple lids and bases (each being a small, cheap piece of plastic), diagnosticians place a KOALA lid containing a chemical mixture onto the base containing the blood sample. That chemical mixture triggers neutrophil migration and researchers can automatically track and analyze the neutrophil chemotaxis velocity using custom software. (Read: 10 asthma triggers you should avoid)

The team has published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a disease of the airways which makes breathing difficult. It is caused by inflammation of the air passages that make them narrow temporarily. Symptoms of narrowing airways include wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing. There can be several triggers or factors that can aggravate the symptoms of asthma. Common factors include dust, mites, pollen, smoke, pollution, weather changes, cold & cough and respiratory infections. Asthma can be broadly categorised into two categories specific and non-specific. Specific asthma is caused by breathing in allergens or irritants while non-specific asthma is caused by exercise, weather or genetic predisposition. The exact cause of asthma is not known but it is seen in families having a history of asthma. Some children get diagnosed with asthma but their symptoms may disappear in teenage years. This condition is called childhood asthma. For some people, asthma can be a chronic condition, where prolonged inflammation can cause permanent narrowing of airways. (Read: Asthma megaguide causes, symptoms, diagnosis, prevention and complications)

With inputs from ANI

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