Discovery of new gene with links to childhood asthma

Jul 5 2007

New treatments for childhood asthma could be in the pipeline following the discovery of a gene associated with the condition.

A team of international researchers have pinpointed a specific gene after studying more than 2,000 children - 994 with childhood asthma and 1,243 non-asthmatics.

The gene called ORMDL3 was found at higher levels in the blood cells of children with asthma and the team believe carrying a specific variant of this gene may increase the risk of developing asthma by up to 70%.

The researchers led by Imperial College London also identified genetic markers on chromosome 17 which appeared to alter levels of ORMDL3.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases and affects one in seven children, however despite it's prevalence the combination of genetic and environmental factors which cause it are still unclear.

Dr. Miriam Moffatt, from Imperial College's National Heart and Lung Institute, says the large study involving scientists and doctors from many countries, has revealed something new and exciting about childhood asthma and adds to the gene environment jigsaw that makes up the disease.

Professor William Cookson, another team member says the results provided the strongest genetic effect on asthma so far discovered but it still remains unclear how ORMDL3 increases the risk of asthma.

Professor Cookson says similar genes are found in primitive organisms such as yeast, and they suspect that ORMDL3 may be a component of quite ancient immune mechanisms but it does not seem to be part of the allergic process.

The team examined mutations in the building blocks, called nucleotides, which make up DNA; as there are mutations in around one in every 600 nucleotides, the scientists examined more than 317,000.

Asthma charities have welcomed the research and say the gene discovery is an exciting development.

The research is published in the journal Nature.