By Debjani Baidyaray
Mumbai, December 28: According to the results of a study reported online on December 23 in the
New England journal of Medicine, a novel gene linked to childhood asthma, both moderate and severe, can suggest new cure measures for the respiratory disorder. The DENND1B gene in chromosome 1 affects cells and signaling molecules which play a key role in immune system hyperactivity seen in asthma.
According to senior author Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD, from the Center for Applied Genomics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sufficient statistical power to uncover and replicate a novel asthma gene has been achieved by analyzing a large number of asthmatic children who use medications.
The DENND1B gene and its protein are involved in the release of cytokines, many of them well-known triggers of the condition, which signals molecules to tell the body how to respond to foreign particles.
Many geneticists believe that a large number of yet-to-be discovered genes interact with each other and with environmental factors causing inflammation and resulting in sneezing, coughing and shortness of breath associated with asthma.
Genomewide association study (GWAS), which uses automated genotyping tools to scan the entire human genome and to identify gene variants contributing to disease risk, previously identified only 1 other asthma-susceptibility gene, ORMDL3, located on chromosome 17.
Because of its ability to regulate many different cytokines, it has shown great potential to treat asthma though many more remain to be discovered, it could benefit large number of children.
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