Variants of endothelin-1 and its receptors in atopic asthma.
Mao XQ,
Gao PS,
Roberts MH,
Enomoto T,
Kawai M,
Sasaki S,
Shaldon SR,
Coull P,
Dake Y,
Adra CN,
Hagihara A,
Shirakawa T,
Hopkin JM.
Experimental Medicine Unit, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea, United Kingdom.
Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a 21 amino acid peptide released from several types of bronchial cells. It operates through two types of receptors, type A(ET-RA) and type B(ET-RB) and has various activities in the pathophysiology of atopic asthma. These genes are localised on different chromosomes where genome-wide searches have identified linkage for atopic asthma, thus supporting the candidacy of ET-1 and its receptors for atopic asthma. A genetic association study was performed with variants of these three genes in both British (n = 300) and Japanese populations (n = 200). No significant association was found between variants of EDN1 and EDNRB genes, and atopic asthma in either population. However, variants of EDNRA gene showed a marginal association with atopy [odds = 0.39(95% CI: 0.17-0.89), p = 0.022, Pc = 0.066], especially with antigen specific IgE levels [odds = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.20-0.77), p = 0.006, Pc = 0.018] in the British population. These findings suggest that EDNRA is a major candidate locus for atopy on chromosome 4. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
PMID: 10448102 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]