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(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.
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"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."
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Nature, published online July 4, 2007
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