team lead by Edward Rubin and Derek Symula working with transgenic mice (mice that are carrying human genes) found that even subtle changes in the activity of two genes - IL4 and IL13 - can have an important impact on asthma susceptability. Their research results were reported in the October. 1, 1999 issue of the Journal Nature Genetics.

Over the last 15 years, the number of asthma victims has doubled, with children living in urban areas particularly susceptable. For reasons eluding medical science, the numbers are still on the rise - this year alone nearly 5,000 people are expected to die from complications related to the disease.