Asthma, migraine genetic breakthroughs
Tuesday August 31st, 2010
Scientists may have discovered a gene responsible for some of the most severe cases of asthma, it has been announced.
Researchers say the C3 gene unleashes an inflammatory protein which can cause severe illness.
The gene was identified through its relationship with the protein, interleukin-17, identified through studies of genetically altered laboratory mice.
Researcher Dr Marsha Wills-Karp, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA, has reported her findings in the journal Nature Immunology.
She said: "This study suggests that at some point it may be possible to treat or prevent severe forms of asthma by inhibiting pathways that drive the production of IL-17A."
* A second piece of research at the weekend named the first gene linked to migraine.
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK, say there is a genetic variant on chromosome 8 linked to increased risk of the illness. The gene is thought to control levels of a chemical messenger, glutamate, in the brain.
Dr Aarno Palotie, chair of the institute's international headache genetics consortium, said: "This is the first time we have been able to peer into the genomes of many thousands of people and find genetic clues to understand common migraine."
The study, reported in Nature Genetics, involved more than 13,000 people, including migraine patients from 40 centres around the world.
Nature Immunology August 29 2010
Anttila, V et al. (2010) Genome-wide association study of migraine implicates a common susceptibility variant on 8q22.1. Nature Genetics.
Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Genetics | North America | Pain Relief | Respiratory | UK News
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