title: Genetics of complex airway disease.
abstract: The past 3 years have seen highly significant genetic effects identified for a wide variety of common complex diseases, including the airway disorders of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It appears that only a portion of the genetically mediated susceptibility to complex diseases has been identified, and there is much left to be discovered. This review briefly describes the results of the genome-wide association studies of asthma and gives an overview of the parallel and increasingly large-scale studies that are taking place with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The future impact is discussed of technological advances that allow increasingly large-scale gene expression studies, next-generation sequencing, and genome-wide testing for epigenetic effects. The use of genetic technology to examine the airway microbiota that interact with the mucosa in health and disease is described.
authors.affiliation: National Heart and Lung Institute, London SW3 6LY, UK. w.cookson@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: William O C
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Cookson
authors.forename: Miriam F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Moffatt
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics*; D057890:Epigenomics; D015870:Gene Expression; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000235:genetics*; D020545:Respiratory Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology