Gene Find Raises Hopes for Child Asthmatics

Jul 05, 08:58 AM

Current Headlines: By ALASTAIR DALTON

HOPES of new treatments for childhood asthma have been raised after scientists announced they had identified a gene with strong links to the condition.

They discovered a version of the gene associated with asthma increased the risk of a child having the respiratory disease by 60 to 70 per cent.

The gene, called ORMDL3, was found at a higher level in the blood cells of children with asthma than in those without.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting one in seven youngsters in Britain. However, the combination of genetic and environmental factors which cause it are still poorly understood. An international research team led by Imperial College London hopes the research, which is published in the journal Nature, will enable new treatments to be developed.

Dr Miriam Moffatt, part of the team from Imperial College's National Heart and Lung Institute, said: "This is a large study involving scientists and doctors from many countries, and we are confident that we have discovered something new and exciting about childhood 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.

"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 protect against asthma. Our eventual aim is to prevent the disease."

Professor William Cookson, a colleague who co-ordinated the study, added: "Our results have found the strongest genetic effect on asthma so far discovered. We do not yet know how ORMDL3 affects asthma susceptibility.

"Similar genes are found in primitive organisms such as yeast, so we suspect that ORMDL3 may be a component of quite ancient immune mechanisms. It does not seem to be part of the allergic process.

"As its expression is increased in asthmatics, it may be possible to develop therapies against it, but this will take some time."

The scientists compared the genetic make up of 994 children with asthma with that of 1,243 non-asthmatics. They looked at mutations in the building blocks, called nucleotides, which make up DNA. There are mutations in around one in every 600 nucleotides and the scientists examined more than 317,000.

Asthma UK, a charity seeking to improve the health of the 5.2 million people affected by the disease, said the gene discovery was "an exciting development".

Dr Victoria King, its research development manager, said: "Through research like this, it will be possible to determine both the risks and protective factors associated with a person's genetic make up, with the long-term aim of preventing and treating asthma in both childhood and later in adult life."

MORE INFO www.asthma.org.uk/ www.nature.com www.imperial.ac.uk

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