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Research Group Studies Chitin As Suspected Cause of Allergies & Asthma
 MSN Health & Fitness reports that a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research group may be making headway in the fight against asthma and allergies.
Dr. Richard Locksley leads the team, which is looking at the possibility that chitin (a compound common to various highly allergenic molds, dust mites, cockroaches, shrimp, and other shellfish) may be the cause of the inflammatory response behind allergies and asthma.
They found that chitin triggered an allergic response in the lungs of laboratory mice. Bacteria helps break down chitin, which is found in the shells, cell walls, and exoskeletons of certain organisms.
A new approach to allergy relief may be to figure out how to break down chitin in the environment.
Dr. Locksley points out, "The snow-crab industry is a big part of a seasonal industry up in Alaska and Canada [and snow crab shells are rich sources of chitin]. College kids come in and they work in these crab processing plants. It’s the food industry, so the first thing they do is get all the bacteria out of the environment by using microbicides. Then you’ve got these kids in there pulverizing chitin shells for hours on end. The attack rate for new onset asthma in that industry is something like 25 to 28 percent per year. It’s now a major cause of disability in Canada."
The UCSF research found that the lab mice increased production of chitinase (an enzyme that breaks down chitin) with exposure. Humans also produce chitinase in response to allergies.
"It turns out that a disproportionate number of people who have asthma have this [variant of chitinase]," says Dr. Locksley. "So another potential issue is whether kids with a variant are at particularly high risk when they go into these environments, such as a home that might be moldy or have a lot of dust mites.
"It’s early days, and first we’d want to confirm that there’s an association between chitin and risk in a household or an industrial setting. Second is whether there’s any relation to genes that people carry around and their ability to manage these responses.
"People have asked me if you could just spray a chitinase down people’s lungs during an attack to prevent a reaction. I think that’s unlikely. And gene therapy is not going to happen any time soon. It’s possible that if we could find the major receptor for chitin in the body, we could make a drug to block that receptor. But until we identify that receptor and understand how it works, we’re a long way from a drug therapy."
Note that several diet pills and weight loss products contain chitin (as chitosan) to block fat from being absorbed. Based on the UCSF research, you may want to avoid ingesting chitin if you're allergic to mold, dust mites, cockroaches, or shellfish.Posted by Scott on Monday, June 04, 2007
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