The variants are minor changes in a gene that can influence how often the associated protein is produced in a cell and how well it functions.
Apparently several reports have already linked asthma with a reduced risk of brain tumors, but the studies may have suffered from various design issues, and according to lead author Dr. Judith Schwartzbaum, from Ohio State University in Columbus the evidence was not credible.
Schwartzbaum's team in their study, looked for an association between asthma-related gene variants and glioblastoma multiforme, GBM, in 111 patients with this tumor and 422 in a comparable group.
The team conducted an extensive search of literature in order to identify variants that have been consistently linked to an increased or decreased risk of asthma.
Their findings were in agreement with previous research, and self-reported asthma was seen to be associated with a decreased risk of GBM.
The team found that two variants were linked to a heightened risk of GBM, whereas another was associated with a reduced risk.
It appears that the two former variants are known to decrease the risk of asthma, whereas the latter raises the risk.
Schwartzbaum says she is now interested in determining if these variants coincidentally have independent roles in the two diseases or whether having asthma or allergy symptoms reduces the risk of GBM.
She is also looking for a variant that increases the risk of both diseases, rather than raising the risk of one and lowering the risk of the other.
Such a variant she explains could serve as a target for new drugs.
The research is published in the journal Cancer Research, July 15, 2005.
Autism is a complex genetic disorder and it is believed that the combined action of a number of genes may increase a person's susceptibility to the condition. Genetic researchers at IntegraGen have been using the Company's novel GenomeHIP(TM) method to identify genes associated with autism. The Company has so far identified 12 regions of the genome linked to autism and, within those, has been able to specifically identify the region coding for PRKCB1. Work is continuing to identify further genes associated with autism within those loci identified.
As has been shown with this study, IntegraGen's work to identify the genes involved in autism will contribute towards understanding the mechanisms behind the disease. IntegraGen plans to use its knowledge of the genetic risk factors to develop a genetic risk assessment test for the condition, based on the PRKCB1 and additional genes which it hopes to launch in 2006. The Company envisages that this will be used to help confirm diagnosis and to help patients and families better understand the condition and its causes. They hope that it may also prove to be a useful tool in assessing the risk of the condition developing when a child is still too young to show clear symptoms, so that informed decisions can be made by clinicians as to the use of interventional therapies as early and as appropriately as possible, at a time when they are known to be most effective.
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