The search for that asthma on/off switch just narrowed a little bit more with the discovery of a gene that appears to raise or lower the asthma risk, depending on just a tiny mutation.
Bear with my roundabout explanation here, because I want to describe the background for the study first. I’m no scientist and I assume most of you aren’t, either, so I’m going to go ahead and translate this research into Southern.
There’s this group of people called Hutterites, Anabaptists who live in self-contained rural colonies similar to the Amish, only the Hutterites practice communal living. They live in Canada and the northwest and north-central U.S. Like other isolationist religious groups that choose to live without the complications and most of the technology of the outside world, they marry within their own colonies, and Hutterites in particular suffer from high rates of asthma–a little over 10% of the community.
What that means in terms of research: the Hutterites make a perfect asthma study group, as their genetic line is easier to study. And that’s exactly what scientists at the University of Chicago did.
Researchers found a gene called CHI3L1, and it comes in two types. One type of CHI3LI raises levels of YKL-40, a compound that causes asthma symptoms, and guess what the other type does? It lowers YKL-40 levels. So people with the second type of CHI3LI are actually protected against asthma.
You see the obvious benefits of this discovery, no? Blocking YKL-40 could mean preventing asthma symptoms from ever starting in some people.
In lead researcher Carole Ober’s words, found here in Serena Gordon’s story for ABC,
While there won’t be one silver bullet for all asthma, we can start to think about tailoring medications to get at the cause, rather than just alleviating asthma symptoms.
New England Journal of Medicine abstract: April 9, 2008
ABC News: Researchers Find Gene Mutation That Increases Asthma Risk
Reuters: Gene raises asthma risk, offers treatment
As a former Hutterite, I know several people on the colonies, including family members, who have Asthma. They are all doing well and have the proper medication. If you guys want to learn more about the Hutterites, you can certainly join the Hutterite Social Network at HutteriteNetwork.com
Thank you for writing about this. It is great to know that the fine folks at the University of Chicago were able to use the Hutterites in their research..
Hello!
This is exciting research but am I the only one who thinks we hear about gene studies all the time? Where are the new treatments?
I am excited. I look forward to some prevention, as well as treatment for those that already have it .
Thanks for sharing that promising study, Amy!
It will be interesting to see what new treatments are developed from the gene research! So cool…..thanks also for breaking it down and making it very easy to understand…….i need that especially after spending the day with 2 two yr. olds…….
I wife told me she read an article about how there might be a cure for aging in the next 30 years, so that people will be able to live forever, so long as they don’t have a disease or get hit by a bus. Now if we develop a cure for asthma… I might have a chance of being 60 forever.
I completely agree, guys….would love to see some new prevention/treatments out of this, especially in the future, too, since AG’s kids (if she has any) are already at an increased risk.