eMedicineLive

Asthma is a disease affecting almost 300 million people around the world. Although treatment with inhaled corticosteroids is the most accepted form of treatment for asthma, the response to therapy varies from person to person. Inhaled corticosteroids reduce the inflammation and swelling of the airways. This helps the patients to breathe easier. Up to 40 percent patients do not show any response to inhalation corticosteroids. A recent study has found that there is a genetic basis behind the difference in response by different individuals to treatment.

 

The study, which will be published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, has been sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. More than 1,000 people enrolled in clinical trials evaluating different asthma treatments were analyzed by the researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. A small number of statistically powerful variants of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were studied under the leadership of Dr. Kelan Tantisira, to determine changes in lung function in response to inhaled corticosteroids. The researchers found that inheriting two copies of a genetic variant to the GLCCI1 gene made the patients suffering from asthma less likely to respond to inhaled corticosteroids. Individuals who have inherited two copies of the common version of GLCCI1 gene responded to treatment more favorably.

 

According to Dr. Susan Shirin, acting director of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the findings of the study help to explain the variable response that different individuals show to asthma therapy. The people who inherit the genetic variant of GLCCI1 gene exhibit just one third of the improvement in the lung function shown by patients with regular pair of genes. Further clinical trials are required to fully understand the effect of genetic make- up on the treatment of asthma. However, the present study has indicated that asthma therapy needs to be more personalized.

 

References:

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