A team of researchers has discovered new genetic loci for asthma risk through meta-analyses of globally diverse genomic data. The work stems from a worldwide collaboration that included the Trans-National Asthma Genetics Consortium (TAGC), Inserm, Paris Diderot University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Colorado.
The study pooled data on millions of DNA polymorphisms throughout the genome in over 142,000 subjects (23,948 asthma cases, 118,538 controls) of European, African, Latino, and Japanese ancestry. In all, the meta-analysis identified a total of 878 genetic variants belonging to 18 loci associated with asthma risk.
Among the findings, published recently in Nature Genetics, were the identification of 5 new asthma loci, as well as new candidate genes in the immune response to viruses, highlighting the importance of viral infections in the risk of asthma.
Interestingly, the asthma-associated loci also overlaps with those on other autoimmune diseases and other diseases with inflammatory components. Moreover, these loci appear to be preferentially enriched near epigenetic enhancer regions in immune cells. These findings suggest an important connection of these loci with the regulation of immunologically related mechanisms and diseases with inflammatory components such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers.