Genetics of asthma and related phenotypes

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in developed nations. It has been clearly shown that several environmental, as well as genetic, factors play an important role in the development of this complex disease. In the last decade many genome-wide screens have been performed to specify the chromosomal localisation of the genes of interest. Simultaneously more than a hundred candidate gene studies have been published. The results between the different studies often vary. To date no major gene for asthma has been detected. Therefore more extensive genetic approaches will be necessary in the future.