Two genes linked to asthma identified: study

Scientists have discovered two genes that are linked to asthma, potentially opening the way for new medications to fight the allergic breathing disorder, according to a study to be published in the US journal Science.

Scientists have discovered two genes that are linked to asthma, potentially opening the way for new medications to fight the allergic breathing disorder, according to a study to be published in the US journal Science. The genes, dubbed GPRA and AAA1, were found on the short arm of chromosome 7, a genetic area that has already been associated with asthma, according to the team of Finnish, Swedish and Canadian researchers led by Tarja Laitinen of Helsinki University. Altered individual base pairs — the smallest components of DNA — inside the gene GPRA have strong links with asthma and a number of hereditary allergies. According to the researchers, these types of modifications, called “SNP,” lead to apparent changes in the expression and possibly even the function of a protein that the GPRA gene encodes. Findings from experiments on mice suggest that GPRA plays a role in asthma, providing an animal model that could help scientists better understand the protein’s functions. Asthma affects around 150 million people worldwide and kills around 130,000 people each year. (Source: AFP Washington, April 2004)