Antileukotriene Drugs for Airway Hyperresponsiveness & Asthma Treatment

antileukotriene
A variety of proinflammatory cells, mediators, and cytokines orchestrate the development of airway hyperresponsiveness, which results in the episodic airflow obstruction characteristic of asthma. As a consequence, modulation of the underlying disease process with antii-nflammatory agents is firmly established as being the cornerstone of successful management. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most potent antiinflammatory agents available and satisfactorily suppress underlying airway inflammation in most individuals. (more…)

CD14 Tobacco Gene–Environment Interaction Modifies Asthma Severity & Immunoglobulin E Levels

CD14 gene
CD14 is part of the receptor complex for endotoxin, which is a component of tobacco smoke. The CD14 gene is located on chromosome 5q, a region previously demonstrated to be linked to asthma when stratified for smoke exposure. This study was designed to extend these findings by determining whether polymorphisms in the CD14 gene are related to this gene–environment interaction on asthma. Puerto Rican (n = 362 trios) and Mexican (n = 259 trios) families ascertained through a child with asthma were studied. (more…)

Leukotriene B4 in Exhaled Breath Condensate And Sputum

Leukotriene B4
Some features seem to be common to severe asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with reversibility of airflow limitation. The neutrophil chemoattractant leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4) may play a role in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and in some forms of asthma. In this study, 55 smokers with no disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (with or without bronchodilator reversibility of airflow limitation) or asthma underwent measurement of LTB 4 in sputum supernatants and exhaled breath condensate asthma (EBC). Both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and asthma patients had higher levels of LTB 4 than control subjects; patients with asthma or reversible Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease exhibited significantly higher levels of LTB 4 than those with irreversible Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. (more…)

Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma: Genetic Linkage Regions

allergic rhinitis asthma
Allergic rhinitis and asthma are common comorbidities. Like asthma, the presence of a genetic component in allergic rhinitis has been well established. To identify genetic linkage regions unique to allergic rhinitis, as well as those shared by allergic rhinitis and asthma, a genome screen study was conducted. A total of 295 families in the French Epidemiological Study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA) containing 1317 subjects were genotyped for 396 microsatellite markers. The families included had two siblings with DNA available and at least one asthmatic subject. Three definitions of allergic rhinitis were used, two binary and one categorical. To investigate linkages specific to allergic rhinitis (without asthma), linkage analyses were also conducted in 185 families with at most one asthmatic sib. (more…)

Susceptibility Locus For Asthma-Related Traits

Susceptibility Locus Asthma
Genome-wide scans have pointed to a number of genomic regions implicated in asthma. This study used an elegant scheme to investigate chromosome 7p, which had been previously identified as containing susceptibility loci for asthma-related phenotypes. Positional cloning of asthma susceptibility genes was undertaken in the Kainuu subpopulation from Finland and two additional population samples from Quebec, Canada. A hierarchical gene mapping strategy was followed by identification of specific genes on the implicated DNA segment of chromosome 7. (more…)

Gene–Environment Interaction Effects On The Development Of Immune Responses In The 1st Year Of Life

Gene Environment

Asthma is characterized by Th2-dominant cytokine profiles. The risk of developing asthma is lower in children attending day care in the first year of life. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the interaction between day-care attendance, T-cell cytokine profiles and atopic phenotypes in early childhood. Children (n = 208) in the Childhood Onset of Asthma (COAST) study were genotyped for 72 polymorphisms in 45 immune response genes. The COAST cohort was selected on the basis of a high risk of asthma. Measurements of IFN-y (Th1), IL-5 and IL-13 (Th2), and IL-10 (Treg) were made at birth and at age 1 year and the children were stratified by day-care attendance. Wheeze and atopic dermatitis phenotypes were documented in the first year. (more…)

T-Cell Immunoglobulin Mucin 1 Genetic Variants And Associated With Asthma In An African-American Population

T-Cell Immunoglobulin
The Tcell Ig domain and mucin domain (TIM) proteins, the genes for which are located on chromosome 5q, have been suggested to be involved in allergic disease. This study examined allergies genetic association of sequence variants of the TIM1 and TIM3 genes in an African-American population. Case–control and family based association analyses were performed for three SNPs each in the TIM1 and TIM3 genes, and an insertion/deletion polymorphism in Tcell Ig domain and mucin domain 1. (more…)

Genome Screen For Asthma And Bronchial Hyper Responsiveness

This study sought to determine the influence of passive exposure to tobacco smoke during childhood on the results of genetic linkage analyses for asthma. A genome wide linkage screen for asthma and bronchial hyper responsiveness was performed in 200 families (containing 1183 individuals) from The Netherlands. A set of 266 polymorphic autosomal markers was used. Analyses were performed separately for the entire population and for the smoking exposed and non exposed families separately. (more…)

Respiratory Allergies Caused by Air Pollution

The geographical variation in the prevalence of asthma in children does not coincide with variations in air pollution levels. The increase in the prevalence of asthma and allergies seen over the last decades was paralleled by a decrease in emissions of SO2 and particles from coal combustion, and an increase of emissions from motor vehicle traffic. There is a growing number of studies suggesting that increased exposure to traffic exhausts, particularly diesel exhausts, may be a risk factor for the new onset of asthma. (more…)

Prevalence of Childhood Asthma and Allergies

Asthma is a complex syndrome rather than a single disease entity. Different phenotypes with varying prognosis and determinants have been described, particularly over childhood years 2 and will be discussed in detail in the following. For example, transient early wheezing is characterized by the occurrence of wheezing in infants up to the age of 2 to 3 years which disappears thereafter. The main predictor of these wheezing illnesses is premorbid reduced lung function before the manifestation of any wheeze. These decrements in pulmonary function are in part determined by passive smoke exposure in utero 4 and result in symptoms of airway obstruction when infants get infected with respiratory viruses. (more…)

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