Rosenwasser L J, Borish L
Department of Medicine, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1997 Oct;156(4 Pt 2):S152-5. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.156.4.12tac-14.
The genetics of atopy and asthma has become a very interesting area for research. Potential candidate genes identified either by the immunopathogenesis of asthma or bronchial hyperresponsiveness, or uncovered by the whole-genome screen, will lead to new and better ways of diagnosing asthma and, more importantly, the potential for drug discovery related to the products of the candidate genes identified in the various genome screening efforts. The candidate gene approach has been applied to the promoter region of a number of cytokine genes, both within and outside of the human 5q33 cytokine gene cluster. As a prototype for both cytokines, work relating to an interleukin (IL)-4 promoter polymorphism and an IL-10 promoter polymorphism will be reviewed as providing a potential molecular mechanism for dysregulation of these cytokine genes in asthma.
特应性和哮喘的遗传学已成为一个非常有趣的研究领域。通过哮喘的免疫发病机制或支气管高反应性确定的潜在候选基因，或通过全基因组筛查发现的潜在候选基因，将带来诊断哮喘的新的更好方法，更重要的是，有可能发现与各种基因组筛查中确定的候选基因产物相关的药物。候选基因方法已应用于人类5q33细胞因子基因簇内外的多个细胞因子基因的启动子区域。作为这两种细胞因子的一个范例，将综述与白细胞介素（IL）-4启动子多态性和IL-10启动子多态性相关的研究，以提供哮喘中这些细胞因子基因失调的潜在分子机制。
