Preventing Asthma Development in Newborns

“Childhood asthma is a complex disease with many contributing factors,” explains Prof Bart Lambrecht (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research), senior author of the study. “We found that early-life RSV infection and genetic allergy risk interact in a very specific way that pushes the immune system toward asthma. The encouraging news is that this process can be prevented.”

To explore this relationship, the team combined nationwide health registry information from all Danish children and their parents with controlled laboratory studies. This approach revealed how an early viral infection can magnify the impact of inherited allergy risk.

The researchers found that infants who suffer severe RSV infections in their first months of life are more likely to develop immune responses that overreact to common allergens, including house dust mites. This tendency becomes even stronger when asthma or allergy runs in the family, since allergen-specific antibodies passed from parents to their newborns increase sensitivity further.

A key part of the work showed that protecting newborns from RSV in experimental models prevented these immune system shifts altogether. As a result, asthma did not develop.

Maternal vaccination during the third trimester of pregnancy and passive immunisation of newborns using long-acting antibodies are being rolled out in many countries. However, uptake has been uneven, even though these tools are highly effective at preventing RSV hospitalisations.

“This is a moment where policy, science, and paediatricians can come together,” Lambrecht adds. “If preventing RSV infection also reduces asthma risk, the benefits for families and health systems could be enormous.”

This work was supported by the European Research Council, the University of Ghent, and Research Foundation — Flanders (FWO).