title: Genetics of asthma and allergy: what have we learned?
abstract: The overall purpose of this review is to present an update on genetic approaches to understanding the susceptibility and expression (severity) of common diseases, such as asthma and allergy. Five key questions are addressed in this review: (1) What phenotypes are being studied? Multiple disease phenotypes in carefully characterized patients are required. (2) Are the same genes that are important in disease susceptibility important in disease severity? (3) Are there racial differences in disease expression and genetic susceptibility? (4) Are the genes important in normal variation in lung function important in asthma severity? (5) Are the genes important in other common diseases, such as chronic inflammatory diseases or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, important in asthma or allergy? In addition, a discussion of some of current areas of research is presented, including the issue that current genome-wide association study results do not account for a significant portion of trait variability, the potential role of rare variants and large genome-sequencing studies, and pharmacogenetics: is there a role for basing treatment decisions on the results of genetic testing? Finally, the potential usefulness of DNA, personalized medicine, is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine Research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. dmeyers@wfubmc.edu
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Meyers
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000235:genetics*; D057285:Precision Medicine
references.citation: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Jun 1;181(11):1170-3
references.pmid: 20133923
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2008 Feb 28;358(9):910-9
references.pmid: 18199855
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2010 Jan;42(1):36-44
references.pmid: 20010834
references.citation: Nature. 2002 Jul 25;418(6896):426-30
references.pmid: 12110844
references.citation: Hum Mol Genet. 2004 Aug 1;13(15):1649-56
references.pmid: 15175276
references.citation: BMC Med Genet. 2009 Jan 22;10:6
references.pmid: 19161620
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2010 Mar;42(3):200-2
references.pmid: 20173748
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Feb;125(2):336-346.e4
references.pmid: 19910028
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Oct;126(4):875-8
references.pmid: 20920778
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2003 Nov;35(3):258-63
references.pmid: 14566338
references.citation: PLoS Genet. 2009 Mar;5(3):e1000421
references.pmid: 19300482
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2010 Jul 8;363(2):166-76
references.pmid: 20647212
references.citation: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Feb 15;181(4):315-23
references.pmid: 19892860
references.citation: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Apr 1;181(7):676-87
references.pmid: 19910613
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Feb;125(2):347-8
references.pmid: 20159243
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2010 Jan 7;362(1):36-44
references.pmid: 20032318
references.citation: Am J Hum Genet. 2009 May;84(5):581-93
references.pmid: 19426955
references.citation: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006 Feb 15;173(4):379-85
references.pmid: 16293801
references.citation: Thorax. 2004 Feb;59(2):126-9
references.pmid: 14760152
references.citation: Lancet. 2009 Nov 21;374(9703):1754-64
references.pmid: 19932356
references.citation: Nat Rev Immunol. 2008 Mar;8(3):169-82
references.pmid: 18301422
references.citation: Nature. 2007 Jul 26;448(7152):470-3
references.pmid: 17611496
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2009 Dec 31;361(27):2599-608
references.pmid: 20018959
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Feb;125(2):321-327.e13
references.pmid: 19910030
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2009 Mar;41(3):342-7
references.pmid: 19198610
references.citation: Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2008 Jan;38(1):114-20
references.pmid: 17690329
references.citation: Thorax. 2009 Aug;64(8):698-704
references.pmid: 19359268
references.citation: Respir Res. 2009 Mar 12;10:21
references.pmid: 19284602
references.citation: Clin Exp Allergy. 2004 May;34(5):757-60
references.pmid: 15144468
references.citation: Nat Genet. 2010 Jan;42(1):45-52
references.pmid: 20010835
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Jun;123(6):1376-83.e7
references.pmid: 19254810
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2010 May 27;362(21):2001-11
references.pmid: 20505179
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Feb;125(2):328-335.e11
references.pmid: 20159242
references.citation: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007 Oct 15;176(8):748-52
references.pmid: 17615386
references.citation: Clin Exp Allergy. 2008 Oct;38(10):1579-81
references.pmid: 18754760
references.citation: Respir Res. 2006 Feb 06;7:21
references.pmid: 16460559
references.citation: PLoS Genet. 2008 Aug;4(8):e1000166
references.pmid: 18846228