This week Irish researchers announced a dramatic breakthrough in the understanding of the most severe form of hereditary emphysema. Their findings offer new hope of developing more effective treatments for people suffering from smokers' emphysema. Emphysema is a progressive disease of the lungs that causes acute shortness of breath and is a major cause of death worldwide.
Researchers in Dublin made their game-changing breakthrough in understanding the mechanisms behind the most severe type of hereditary emphysema, known as Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.
In patients with Alpha-1, excessive amounts of white blood cells cause chronic lung disease.

Until the Irish breakthrough the cause of this was not fully understood, but now the researchers have uncovered the mechanisms behind the influx of white blood cells which causes the inflammation.
In Ireland the Alpha-1 condition is more common than in most other countries, occurring in one in 2,000 of the population and one in 24 people who carry the gene for the disease.