Major gene link seen to childhood asthma


PARIS (AFP) - A newly-discovered gene boosts the risk of childhood asthma by as much as 70 percent, according to an investigation into asthma-prone infants in five countries


Twenty-four experts from Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Austria joined the DNA trawl, comparing samples from 994 children with asthma against those from 1,243 local children who did not have the disease.


These novel findings do not explain completely how asthma is caused, but they do provide a further part of the gene-environment jigsaw that makes up the disease."

In evolutionary terms, ORMDL3 appears to be a very old part of the human genome. Similar genes are found in primitive organisms such as yeast.

It may be a relic of some ancient human immune system, although its precise function -- and the role it appears to play in asthma -- remain unclear, said co-author William Cookson.

Asthma is an inflammation of the bronchial airways that causes the airways to constrict, causing shortness of breath and wheeziness.

The causes are complex, rooted in genetic susceptibility and in an allergic response to so-called environmental factors, such as air pollution, tobacco smoke, stress, strong emotions or exercise.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070704/hl_afp/healthdisea...5AlqOopWVJd4BeXMWM0F



And of course the reporter just had to throw in Tobacco smoke

Bear in mind the age of modern medicine when thinking of asthma. Because of air conditioning and modern norms, people with this problem have been able to survive to be adults as compared to the past when they would have died during early childhood.

Modern medicine has also bequeathed a lot of medically induced impaired immune systems.

As more and more of these people survive we all share in their physical problems.