Scientists discover gene that causes asthma

American scientists have discovered the human gene that causes asthma, which will enable new treatment or even curing the disease.

If the gene in question has deficiencies, the lining of the Airways can be weakened, which makes people more vulnerable to respiratory disease.

In the long term, scientists hope that gene therapy can provide a hope for patients. "The discovery provides hope for individuals with severe asthma, since the gene seems to play an important role for people with this specific condition," said Hakon Hakonarson, of children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

To reach this conclusion scientists compared the DNA of 1,173 children with severe asthma with the genetic code of 2,522 healthy people and found that those affected by asthma were more likely to have a particular genetic variation. The gene in question controls the way the cells lining the walls of the Airways are linked. The abnormal gene-bearing cells are less interconnected, which makes them more vulnerable to irritation that trigger asthma attacks. Researchers believe that this gene is the main factor that triggers the disease in at least one in every five cases of asthma.

"Nearly twice as many people who have severe asthma have this genetic variant that healthy individuals", indicates Hakonarson. "There's a subset of people with asthma, between 15% and 20%, where this gene has a greater impact," he adds.

Photo: new ' s/Creative Commons

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