(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Asthma patients who don't respond to steroids may have a new option. A recent study from King's College London and Imperial College finds vitamin D3 could significantly improve their response to steroid treatment.

The results imply steroid treatment works partly by inducing the T-cells of the immune system to produce a molecule called IL-10, which can block the immune responses that cause the symptoms of allergies and asthma. Unlike patients who respond to steroids, T-cells in steroid-resistant patients do not produce IL-10. Researchers found adding vitamin D3, however, can reverse the defect, making the previously steroid-resistant cells respond to the treatment by producing just as much IL-10 as T-cells in steroid-responsive patients.

"The hope is that this work will lead to new ways to treat people who don't respond to steroid treatment as it currently stands, and it could also help those people who are on heavy doses of steroids to reduce the amount of medication they are taking," says Catherine Hawrylowicz, M.D., Ph.D., who led the King's research team.

Dr. Hawrylowicz also says the research is preliminary and future studies need to be done to confirm the findings.

SOURCE: The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2005;10:1172-1182