ORIGINAL ARTICLES  ASTHMA 

Panminerva Medica 2004 June;46(2):121-34

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Genetic aspects of asthma

Gao P. S., Huang S. K.

Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA

Over the ­last few ­years, a sig­nif­i­cant ­progress has ­been ­made in under­stand­ing of the genet­ic ­basis of asth­ma. This has led to the iden­tifi­ca­tion of sev­er­al chro­mo­so­mal ­regions and ­loci show­ing link­age to and asso­ci­a­tion ­with asth­ma and asth­ma-­linked phe­no­types. Recent posi­tion­al clon­ing approach­es ­have ­also ­been infor­ma­tive in iden­ti­fy­ing sev­er­al ­strong can­di­date ­genes for asth­ma. The ­next chal­lenge ­will ­involve val­i­da­tion of ­these find­ings and, impor­tant­ly, iden­tifi­ca­tion of the func­tion­al ­basis in the pathoph­y­sio­lo­gy of asth­ma. This ­review ­will ­describe the pow­er of posi­tion­al clon­ing for the iden­tifi­ca­tion of asth­ma ­genes, high­light the func­tion­al impor­tance of the genet­ic var­i­ants, and ­address the ­gene-­gene and ­gene-envi­ron­ment inter­ac­tions ­that are per­ti­nent to ­this chal­leng­ing ­field.