A study published by Harvard Medical School researchers last week may bring doctors one step closer to finding a cure for asthma.

Until now, the scientific community had thought that one form of immune cells, “helper T cells,” were behind the respiratory ailment.

But a new study, designed by Havard immunologist Dale T. Umetsu and executed by Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Omid Akbari along with Stanford researcher John Faul, has implicated a different type of immune cell, “natural killer T” (NKT) cells.

The discovery has prompted talk of a new wave of treatment methods for asthma sufferers, targeting the NKT cells that appear to lie behind the disease.

“We believe that our study will change the way people think about asthma, and will change future therapies for asthma” Umetsu wrote in an e-mail.

According to the World Health Organization, 180,000 people across the globe die from asthma each year, and between 100 million and 150 million people suffer from the disease. Asthma rates have risen rapidly in industrial nations over the past 20 years, adding increased urgency to improving treatment.

“I see patients with asthma all the time in clinic,” says Umetsu. “For the patients with severe disease, it can be extremely frustrating. My hope is that we can develop methods that will ultimately cure this disease.”

Umetsu is already studying ways to prevent NKT cells from causing asthma.

Asthma attacks are caused by immune system cells overreacting to relatively benign dust, smoke, or other irritants, restricting breathing in the process.

According to results of the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, the frequency of NKT cells in asthmatic patients is roughly a 100 times that found in non-asthmatics.

Students afflicted with asthma cheered the advance.

“As an asthmatic, it’s frustrating to always be trying to treat the symptoms of the disease,” says Talya J. Brettler ’08. “I’m excited about the prospect of a cure.”