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