Study: Heatwaves Increase Cough Urge, Which Salt Aerosols Reduce

SC Therapeutics, with University North Carolina, Imperial College London, and Boston University, announced publication on Tuesday in Nature Scientific Reports of results from a multi-institutional study indicating that the aridity inherent in heatwaves increases cough hypersensitivity in human airways by collapsing mucus onto cilia in a manner common to chronic respiratory diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, and asthma. The researchers find that alkaline aerosols of magnesium salts reverse mucosal collapse for several hours, and reduce cough hypersensitivity as reflected in placebo-adjusted suppression of daily cough bout rate (59%, p=0.03) and persistence of suppression post treatment for 1 to 3 weeks in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 10 refractory chronic cough patients.

“Paris recorded 5,764 excess deaths between 17 June and 2 July, a period of time during which we report atmospheric aridity in the city increased approximately 3-fold relative to the 35 year average for this same period,” said Dr Kian Fan Chung, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London. “Hospitalization and deaths during heatwaves are especially great among the elderly, with a high prevalence of respiratory complications, including chronic cough.”

“The breathing of arid atmospheres is now commonplace as a consequence of urbanization, the shift to indoor living, and rising frequency of heatwaves,” said Dr. David A. Edwards, founder of SC Therapeutics, Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and Distinguished Visiting Scientist at Imperial College London. “Unlike dirty air, which provokes inflammation by exposure to toxic particles and gases, atmospheric aridity inflames human airways by rapid water loss, making anti-inflammatory relief possible by prolonged rehydration, as demonstrated in this study.”

“Hypertonic salts have long been used to treat cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition of dehydrated airways,” said Dr Brian Button, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University North Carolina. “This study gives evidence that new kinds of hypertonic salts, longer acting and rendered therapeutic by optimization of rehydration processes within mucus we are only beginning to discover, might provide prophylaxis and treatment options for a human population previously spared the damages of mucosal dehydration.”

About Refractory Chronic Cough

Refractory chronic cough affects millions of patients worldwide who fail to achieve adequate relief with standard treatments. The condition is characterized by cough hypersensitivity – in which the cough reflex threshold is pathologically lowered – resulting in persistent, often disabling cough that significantly impairs quality of life. Despite growing recognition of the disease burden, approved therapies remain limited and none have demonstrated disease-modifying properties. Mechano-sensitive ion channels have emerged as a promising therapeutic target given their role in transducing mechanical stimuli to drive the hypersensitive cough reflex.

About SC Therapeutics

SC Therapeuticsis a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class therapies that deactivate mechano-sensitive ion channels implicated in respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The Company’s proprietary platform leverages the biology of endogenous airway ions to modulate MSC activity, with the goal of achieving disease-modifying outcomes across conditions driven by aberrant mechanical signaling. SC Therapeutics is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260915943841/en/