80% of patients with intrinsic asthma are homozygous for HLA W6. Is intrinsic asthma a recessive disease?
Of 26 patients with intrinsic asthma, 21 (81%) were homozygous for the histocompatibility antigen HLA-W6. Also, half the patients had complement defects, in particular low levels of C2. This is the first indication of a strong genetic component in intrinsic asthma, apart from that already known from family studies. These findings suggest that intrinsic asthma may be a recessive disease.
D001249:Asthma / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D003175:Complement C2 / Q000172:deficiency; D005260:Female; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D006680:HLA Antigens; D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D003175:Complement C2; D006680:HLA Antigens; D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens