(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New treatments could be on the way after the
discovery of a new asthma gene.
Researchers from the United States, London, France, and Germany looked at more
than 2,000 children. They found genetic markers on chromosome 17 that
dramatically increase a child's risk for asthma. Children with the marker had
higher levels of a new gene called ORMDL3 in their blood, which is found in
higher amounts in children with asthma. The study shows the disease-associated
version of the gene increases the risk of asthma by 60-to 70-percent.
"I think, eventually, it will lead to new therapies because it points to a
specific biological molecular pathway," co-author Goncalo Abecasis, from the
University of Michigan School of Public Health, was quoted as saying. "Once we
understand the biology and we know the players, it's possible to target with
specific drugs."
Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, caused by a combination
of genetic and environmental factors. Treatments for childhood asthma usually
focus on targeting allergic responses because most children with asthma also
have many allergies.
The authors say their findings are the strongest genetic link yet to child-onset
asthma.
"These novel findings do not explain completely how asthma is caused, but they
do provide a further part of the gene-environment jigsaw that makes up the
disease," co-author Dr. Miriam Moffatt of the National Health and Lung
Institute, London, was quoted as saying. "We and our colleagues are currently
preparing even bigger studies to find other genes of smaller effect and to
relate these to environmental factors that increase asthma risk."
SOURCE: Nature, published online July 4, 2007
