Researchers Find Connection Between Gene Variant And Poorer Response To Asthma Drugs
Posted Sep 27 2011 7:20pm
A genetic variant may explain why some people with asthma do not respond well to inhaled corticosteroids, the most widely prescribed medicine for long-term asthma control. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that asthmatics who have two copies of a specific gene variant only responded one-third as well to steroid inhalers as people with two copies of the normal gene. The results appear in the September 26 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Asthma is a complex inflammatory disease that affects over 22 million people in the United States and roughly 300 million people worldwide. Many factors can affect how severely the disease affects people and how well they respond to treatments. Poor response to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) often runs in families, suggesting that genetics plays a role in how people respond to asthma treatments.
The study, lead by Kelan Tantisara, MD, MPH, a researcher in the Channing Laboratory at BWH, first conducted a genome-wide screening of the DNA of children enrolled in the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) as well as their parents. The screening uncovered that a variant in a gene called GLCCI1 was potentially associated with poor ICS response. Study researchers then verified this association in 935 additional people with asthma, both children and adults, enrolled in four independent ICS studies. Most of the participants in these groups were Caucasian, so the results may not be applicable to all demographics.
A genetic variant may explain why some people with asthma do not respond well to inhaled corticosteroids, the most widely prescribed medicine for long-term asthma control. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that asthmatics who have two copies of a specific gene variant only responded one-third as well to steroid inhalers as people with two copies of the normal gene. The results appear in the September 26 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Asthma is a complex inflammatory disease that affects over 22 million people in the United States and roughly 300 million people worldwide. Many factors can affect how severely the disease affects people and how well they respond to treatments. Poor response to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) often runs in families, suggesting that genetics plays a role in how people respond to asthma treatments.
The study, lead by Kelan Tantisara, MD, MPH, a researcher in the Channing Laboratory at BWH, first conducted a genome-wide screening of the DNA of children enrolled in the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) as well as their parents. The screening uncovered that a variant in a gene called GLCCI1 was potentially associated with poor ICS response. Study researchers then verified this association in 935 additional people with asthma, both children and adults, enrolled in four independent ICS studies. Most of the participants in these groups were Caucasian, so the results may not be applicable to all demographics.