Gene Variants Factor into Asthma Attacks
How often do therapists hear the phrase: "It's all in the genes"? It's used to explain everything from brainpower to muscle power and points in between. Now that same uttering might be used to apply to asthma attacks.
British researchers are currently reporting youngsters carrying a gene variant called Arg 16 are more prone to attacks than are other asthmatics, even though they use drugs to control asthma properly.
Scientists studying the issue reported the data suggest clinicians should give genetic tests to children before treatment is started, and this practice may produce a more cost-effective way of treating them.
"This is a global question that needs to be addressed," noted lead researcher Somnath Mukhopadhyay of Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Popular drugs like salbutamol (albuterol) and salmeterol are less effective in treating asthmatic children with Arg 16 and may, in fact, make their asthma worse, scientists told Reuters news service.
U.S. drug regulators have cautioned in the past that these asthma drugs may actually increase the asthma risk in some patients, but drug manufacturers report they have not found a gene variant risk in their own studies.
British researchers, who looked at patients between the ages of 3 and 22 years and using an inhaler, said their studies found a 30 percent greater risk of asthma if the children carried the Arg 16 gene. Those children with two copies of the gene had a 70 percent greater risk of drug-related woes. Scientists noted children taking daily doses of the drugs were typically those with the most severe chronic presentations of the illness.
More than 1 million British children have asthma and it is estimated 100,00 youngsters carry the Arg 16 variant, noted Coin Palmer of Dundee University, a fellow researcher.
This study is due to be published by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
"This is possibly a good time to ask the question whether it is cost effective to prescribe all children with the same or very similar types of medicine, or whether we should look at the question of genetics," added Mukhopadhyay.
Researchers said such tests could be simple and relatively cheap by using cheek swabs or saliva tests.
Findings may impact the therapy and advice given in the future.