The Times of India, Aug. 12, 2009
UTMB researchers found that a single enzyme is apparently critical to most allergen-provoked asthma attacks - and that activity of the enzyme, known as aldose reductase, can be significantly reduced by compounds that have already undergone clinical trials as treatments for complications of diabetes. "Oral administration of aldose reductase inhibitors works effectively in experimental animals. If these drugs work as well in humans as they do in animals you could administer them either orally or in a single puff from an inhaler and get long-lasting results," said UTMB's Satish Srivastava, senior author of the study. Srivastava and his colleagues focused on aldose reductase inhibition as a possible asthma therapy after establishing an essential role for the enzyme in other diseases also characterized by inflammation. The study also appears in the Galveston County Daily News.