A Harvard Medical School Study found that the interaction between environmental mold exposure and certain variants of chitinase genes were positively associated with asthma.
Chitinases break down a component in fungi called chitin, which is also a component in the cuticles of crustaceans and insects, the radulas of mollusks and the beaks of cephalopods, including squid and octopuses.
The asthma study was published online June 24 and will be in an upcoming print issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.