Successful ALLIANCE study information event: Science meets patient

“Yes, we care” - this was the motto of an online information event of the ALLIANCE (All Age Asthma Cohort) asthma study. More than 70 people, many of them study participants their family members, joined in. All ALLIANCE study centers of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) invited patients to get information on research results and to start a dialog with science.

"Twelve years after the start of the study, ALLIANCE would like to report on a potpourri of important scientific successes and findings," said Dr. Nicole Maison from Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University Clinic Munich, welcoming the participants. She helped organize the online event and guided through the program. However, it was not intended to be a one-sided monologue from ALLIANCE doctors and scientists to patients: "In the future, we want to involve our patients even more in our research and give them the opportunity to address their wishes and questions to us researchers," said Maison.

In the first lecture, "The colorful picture of asthma - what types of asthma are there and how do they progress?", Dr. Isabell Ricklefs (University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck) gave a vivid insight into the different types of asthma and presented exciting research data. "We want our patients to understand why we perform so many examinations on them, such as lung function tests, nasal swabs and blood samples, which are not always pleasant, especially for our youngest participants," Dr. Ricklefs explained, "and what an important role this plays for our research."

Dr. Tobias Trojan (University Hospital of Cologne) and Prof. Christine Happle (Hannover Medical School) reported on the significance of obesity for the development and progression of asthma. “The fact that obesity of mother and child can have an influence even before birth is an important finding from our ALLIANCE research,” Trojan and Happle said.

In her empathetic contribution entitled “Asthma from a patient's perspective”, Kimberley Schlieter, a medical student from Lübeck and patient herself, built a direct bridge between the patients and the researchers of the ALLIANCE study. She sees herself as a link and part of the team and is happy to be available to the participants and researchers in her role as a patients’ representative.

In a lively discussion, ALLIANCE scientists answered questions about future research projects, such as the use of artificial intelligence. It became emotional when a patient explained that she was proud to be able to make a contribution to asthma research and thus might make asthma more bearable for future generations. The researchers also expressed their joy and gratitude for the collaboration with the participants and their relatives.

In the end, it was clear that patients, relatives and scientists all benefit from the resulting dialog. This is to be continued in a series of events in the coming years.

ALLIANCE is a flagship project of the DZL that has so far recruited more than 1,000 people between the ages of six months and 84 years and is studying their disease progression at follow-up visits. The aim is to understand the mechanisms of disease progression and to identify them better and earlier so that treatment can be adapted to individual patients.