According to scientists who believe they may have discovered the root cause of asthma, a cure could be available in just five years, the Irish Examiner reports.

According to the Asthma Society of Ireland, the discovery could be revolutionary for the almost half-million people suffering in that country from the disease, which manifests in chronic airway inflammation.

The discovery centers on drugs developed for the treatment of osteoporosis, which may have a key role in controlling asthma. Clinical trials could begin within the next two years.

Researchers found that the drugs, known as calcilytics, have the ability to reverse all symptoms associated with the condition, affecting 300 million people around the world.

The scientists, based at Cardiff University, King’s College London, and the Mayo Clinic in the US, found that a calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) played a role in causing the disease.

Mouse models of asthma and human tissue were utilized to reach their findings, which were then published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Daniela Riccardi from Cardiff University School of Biosciences, principal investigator on the study, described the findings as “incredibly exciting. If we can prove that calcilytics are safe when administered directly to the lung in people, then in five years we could be in a position to treat patients and potentially stop asthma from happening in the first place.”

Environmental triggers, such as allergens, cigarette smoke, and car fumes flooded airway tissue with CaSR, which in turn caused asthma symptoms, such as inflammation, twitching and narrowing of the airway.

“Using calcilytics, nebulised directly into the lungs, we show that it is possible to deactivate CaSR and prevent all of these symptoms,” said Prof Riccardi.

Calcilytics were not useful in treating osteoporosis, but were deemed clinically safe and could be tolerated in humans.

Sharon Cosgrove, chief executive of the Asthma Society of Ireland, said Ireland had the fourth highest incidence of asthma per capita in the world and “if a clinical treatment emerges. it could be potentially life changing for the 470,000 asthma sufferers here.”