NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The gene for prostanoid DP receptor (PTGDR) appears to be an asthma-susceptibility gene, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine for October 21. Variants in the gene that reduce transcription seem to reduce the risk of asthma.
The present study represents an “exemplary investigation of PTGDR as a candidate for a role in the susceptibility to asthma in young adults,” Dr. William Cookson and Dr. Miriam Moffatt, from the University of Oxford in the UK, note in a related editorial. PTGDR could represent a novel target for asthma therapies, they add.
Dr. Craig M. Lilly, from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues looked for PTGDR variants in 518 white patients with asthma and 175 white controls as well as in 80 black patients with asthma and 45 black controls.
The researchers identified four new PTGDR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two that had been described previously. Together, the variants defined four common three-SNP haplotypes, which influenced the efficiency at which PTGDR was transcribed.
Having at least one copy of the haplotype with low transcriptional efficiency reduced the risk of asthma. Compared with their peers who had no copies of the haplotype, white and black subjects with at least one copy were 45% and 68% less likely, respectively, to have asthma.
“Large-scale studies of PTGDR variants in population-based samples are now needed to quantify the proportion of asthma risk that is accounted for by these variants in populations with the disease,” the authors state.
Source: N Engl J Med 2004;351:1752-1763,1794-1796. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Biological Sciences: Biology: Genetics: Haplotypes: Membrane Proteins: Receptors, Cell Surface: Receptors, Prostaglandin: Receptors, Eicosanoid: Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide: Biological SciencesCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
