Question explored with the scientific record
DMSO for asthma?
The short version: the retrieved evidence does not test DMSO for asthma at all, so there is no basis to recommend it from these records.
The single study in the evidence is about a completely different question: how a growth factor (PDGF) turns on a gene called EGR-1 in airway smooth muscle cells [1]. It is a basic science paper from 2004, not a clinical trial. It found that EGR-1 is not elevated in the lungs of asthmatic patients or in mice with allergic airway inflammation . That tells you nothing about whether DMSO helps or harms asthma.
DMSO is a solvent that penetrates skin and has anti-inflammatory properties in some contexts. But the evidence here contains zero studies of DMSO given to people with asthma. No trials, no case reports, no safety data. The retrieval simply missed the question.
My call: there is no evidence in these records to support using DMSO for asthma. Confidence: not clear, because the retrieval did not address the question at all.
Sources used 1
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Induction of early growth-response factor 1 by platelet-derived growth factor in human airway smooth muscle
PDGF rapidly induces EGR-1 expression in human airway smooth muscle cells via ERK1/2 signaling and ELK-1 phosphorylation, with SRE-3 promoter elements mediating transcription; however, EGR-1 is not increased in the lungs of asthmatic patients or in ovalbumin-challenged mice.
DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00190.2003