Beta blocker benefits in asthma reported

The American Asthma Foundation has announced a research breakthrough  suggesting that, contrary to popular belief, drugs commonly used to  treat high blood pressure may also bring relief to many asthma  sufferers.

Dean Smith, executive director of the AAF, said, "drugs known as beta  blockers have long been used to treat high blood pressure. However, they  have historically been forbidden for patients with asthma, because they  may make the symptoms worse. Now, however, results from a research study  funded by the American Asthma Foundation suggest that, over the long  run, asthma may well improve with low daily doses of beta blockers."

The findings were published January 26 on www.pnas.org, the on-line  edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.  The lead investigator, Richard Bond, and his colleagues demonstrated the  absence of asthma-like symptoms in laboratory mice that do not have the  very receptor that is inhibited by beta blockers. This finding was in  agreement with earlier studies by Dr Bond et al showing that low doses  of beta blockers improved asthma in mice.