HEALTH : Hormone, Blood Pressure Link
<i> From Times Wire Services </i>
A hormone used experimentally to treat cancer and AIDS appears to dramatically lower high blood pressure in rats, and tests will soon begin to see if it helps humans with hypertension, researchers reported today.
Researchers at the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, N.Y., found that a tiny amount of an immune system hormone, called interleukin-2 (IL-2), normalizes high blood pressure in rats.
Richard Tuttle, who directed the study, said his team found that IL-2 reverses high blood pressure in adult rats and prevents further blood pressure increases in young rats with all stages of hypertension.
