Aslam Mohammed Dauwood, Ageed Ahmed
General Practice, Health Education West Yorkshire, Huddersfield, GBR.
Medicine and Surgery, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, GBR.
Cureus. 2024 Oct 8;16(10):e71052. doi: 10.7759/cureus.71052. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition characterized by the narrowing of the airways, causing difficulty in breathing. Its heritability has long been an area of research, and the study of genetics alone has not been sufficient in the explanation of both its heritability and susceptibility. The study of epigenetics, which is defined as "the study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence," can be used to explain the heritability and susceptibility of asthma. These epigenetic alterations to our DNA are influenced by environmental factors which are already known as risk factors for asthma; these include factors such as diet, smoking, and air pollution. The epigenetic mechanisms work by altering gene transcription and therefore determine whether specific genes are expressed, such mechanisms include DNA methylation and histone acetylation.
哮喘是一种慢性呼吸道疾病，其特征是气道变窄，导致呼吸困难。其遗传力长期以来一直是研究领域，仅遗传学研究不足以解释其遗传力和易感性。表观遗传学的研究被定义为“对基因表达中可遗传变化的研究，这些变化不涉及潜在DNA序列的改变”，可用于解释哮喘的遗传力和易感性。我们DNA的这些表观遗传改变受环境因素影响，而这些环境因素已被确认为哮喘的危险因素；这些因素包括饮食、吸烟和空气污染等。表观遗传机制通过改变基因转录起作用，从而决定特定基因是否表达，这些机制包括DNA甲基化和组蛋白乙酰化。
