Genetic Susceptibility to Asthma — Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness Coinherited with a Major Gene for Atopy

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 333; no. 14; pp. 894 - 900
• Main Authors: Postma, Dirkje S, Bleecker, Eugene R, Amelung, Pamela J, Holroyd, Kenneth J, Xu, Jianfeng, Panhuysen, Carolien I.M, Meyers, Deborah A, Levitt, Roy C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 05.10.1995
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Allergic diseases; Allergies; Asthma; Asthma - genetics; Asthma - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; Bronchial Hyperreactivity - genetics; Bronchial Hyperreactivity - immunology; Child; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5; Families & family life; Female; Genes, Immunoglobulin; Genetic Linkage; Genetic Markers; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetics; Humans; Hypersensitivity, Immediate - genetics; Immunoglobulin E - blood; Immunoglobulin E - genetics; Immunopathology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Respiratory and ent allergic diseases; Human; Immunopathology; Allergy; Genetic inheritance; Hyperreactivity; Respiratory disease; Bronchus; Exploration; Chromosome 5; Asthma; Lung function; Obstructive pulmonary disease; Child
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199510053331402

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness is a fundamental characteristic of asthma thought to have a heritable component. 1 Longitudinal studies in children show that bronchial hyperresponsiveness precedes asthma and is a risk factor for the development of asthma. 2 , 3 Studies in both humans and animals have demonstrated a genetic predisposition to bronchial hyperresponsiveness, 2 – 10 such as greater concordance for this trait among monozygotic twins than among dizygotic twins. 9 , 10 Bronchial hyperresponsiveness to carbachol appears to be inherited as an autosomal dominant trait, 4 but the bimodal distribution of bronchial responsiveness to methacholine is not controlled by a single gene. 5 Although these studies confirm a strong . . .