Drugs to treat tuberculosis have been around for more than 75 years, yet it remains the world’s top infectious disease killer. A big obstacle has been testing. It’s either inaccurate — missing up to half of all cases — or requires expensive laboratories that are not widely available in the countries where most people with TB live. 

Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have identified molecular pathways controlled by the protein RhoA in club cells — a specialized population of epithelial cells that exclusively lines the inner and outer surfaces of the lung’s small airways, with known roles in immune regulation and airway repair — during allergen-induced airway inflammation. Through a series of translational mouse and cell culture experiments, the research team has demonstrated how RhoA can be selectively targeted to potentially prevent asthma-related complications. 

In their validation study, they showed that individuals with high genetic risk scores had significantly greater odds of developing disease compared to those with average risk.