Genetic factors in the presence, severity, and triggers of asthma.

Abstract

The role of heredity in the presence of asthma, severity of the condition, and impact of 12 specific triggers of attacks was investigated. Health surveys containing questions about children's asthma characteristics were completed by 325 families with twin children across the United States. Data for 39 monozygotic twin pairs and 55 same sex dizygotic twin pairs who were between 2 and 20 years of age and had asthma present in at least one member of each pair were received and analysed. Results revealed higher concordance for the presence of asthma among monozygotic (58.97%; n=23) than dizygotic twins (23.64%; n=13). Further analyses were restricted to data from the concordant monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs. Asthma severity (the product of attack frequency and intensity ratings) was significantly correlated for monozygotic pairs but not for dizygotic pairs, and this difference in monozygotic and dizygotic severity correlations was significant. Also, monozygotic twins showed significantly higher correlations than dizygotic twins for the impacts of two asthma triggers: respiratory infection and physical activity. These results indicate a role of heredity in the presence of asthma and suggest that genetic factors may also affect the severity of children's asthma condition and the impact of respiratory infection and physical exertion as asthma triggers. (Arch Dis Child 1995; 73: 112-116)

Transcriptome analysis reveals upregulation of bitter taste receptors in severe asthmatics

“…Asthma is known to run in families, and studies also suggest that there is a considerable hereditary component for disease severity [3]. To date, there are few genetic studies on therapy-resistant asthma in children, and few studies have explored the gene expression profile that characterises this phenotype [4].…”

Genomic Approaches to Understanding Asthma

“…The agedependent distribution of atopic disease and associated quantitative traits suggests a reduced penetrance of genetic susceptibility in early and later life. Twin studies have generally shown that concordance rates for asthma are significantly higher in MZ twins than in DZ twins (Hopp et al 1984;Duffy et al 1990;Nieminen et al 1991;Sarafino and Goldfedder 1995), whether reared apart or together (Hanson et al 1991). Broadsense heritability estimates derived from twin studies range from 36% (Nieminen et al 1991) to 75% (Duffy et al 1990).…”

Association of TGF-β1, CD14, IL-4, IL-4R and ADAM33 gene polymorphisms with asthma severity in children and adolescents

“…Alguns estudos, incluindo com gêmeos 2 , têm mostrado que uma série de genes e seus polimorfismos influenciam os desenvolvimentos imune e pulmonar e a resposta a fatores ambientais, contribuindo para o aparecimento e/ou gravidade da asma. O gene fator de crescimento transformante-β 1 (TGF-β 1 ) está localizado no cromossomo 19q13 3,4 .…”