PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Asthma researchers
have found that a gene variant known to raise the risk of childhood asthma
in European children plays a similar role in white American children, but
not in African American children.
The most common chronic illness among children in the developed world,
asthma is a complex disease in which a variety of genes are thought to
interact with each other and with environmental influences to produce its
effects. As in many other genetic diseases, researchers expect that better
knowledge of gene associations will pave the way for new treatments and to
customizing treatments to each patient's genetic profile.
Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that
variants in the ORMDL3 gene were associated with childhood-onset asthma
among U.S. patients of European ancestry. In 2007 a study team based in
Europe had identified the ORMDL3 gene, located on chromosome 17, as
contributing to childhood asthma among British and German children.
The current study, from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, appeared as a brief online
report Aug. 29 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
"We replicated the European findings among American children, and
showed that the gene plays a role in asthma of any severity level," said
study leader and pediatric pulmonologist Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D.,
director of the Center for Applied Genomics at Children's Hospital. "The
previous group had detected the association of ORMDL3 with asthma by
examining families having two or three members with severe disease."
Furthermore, said Hakonarson, "Through the testing of additional
markers, our data suggest that other genes outside the region occupied by
ORMDL3 might have important roles in raising susceptibility to asthma." His
group plans further studies to further refine this and other regions.
Drawing on patients from the Children's Hospital network, the study
team analyzed DNA from 807 white children with asthma, compared to 2,583
white children without the disease. Another cohort consisted of African
American children, of whom 1,456 had asthma and 1,973 were healthy
controls. The researchers used highly automated gene-scanning equipment at
Children's Hospital's Center for Applied Genomics, the largest pediatric
genotyping program in the world.
"Because asthma is a very heterogeneous disease, the genes involved in
childhood-onset asthma may be very different from those involved in asthma
that first appears in adults," said Hakonarson. "Furthermore, the
biological mechanisms by which genetic variants contribute to asthma are
not well understood. However, we will continue our investigations, to shed
light on how we might use genetic knowledge to develop more effective
treatments for this common disease. These treatments will be a form of
personalized medicine, better tailored to the genetic makeup of the
individual patient."
An Institute Development Award from The Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia supported this research. Hakonarson's co-authors, all from
Children's Hospital, included Patrick M.A. Sleiman, Ph.D., Julian Allen,
M.D., Jonathan Spergel, M.D., Ph.D., Robert Grundmeier, M.D., Ph.D.,
Michael M. Grunstein, M.D., Ph.D., and Mark Magnusson, M.D. Hans Bisgaard,
M.D., from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, also collaborated.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric
hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional
patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare
professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's
Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children
worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the
country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In
addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have
brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children
and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.
Contact: John Ascenzi
Phone: (267) 426-6055
Ascenzi@email.chop.edu
SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
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http://www.chop.edu
CONTACT:
John Ascenzi of Children's Hospital of
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