Danes discover genetic basis for Asthma

Having been hospitalized twice this year with Asthma attacks I was interested in this development ...a Danish team of scientists from University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital has found the gene responsible for the development of asthma. Their work started in 1996

The long-term expectation is that the find will improve the treatment of asthma patients, as people carrying the gene will be able to receive a more precise diagnosis and enter treatment earlier.

Professor Torben Kruse Professor of gene technology says it is now clear that there is a gene that can trigger the respiratory ailment, there is still a long research road ahead in order to fully understand the disease.

"Asthma is a hereditary disease, but it can also be caused by environmental factors," explained Kruse

According to the WHO, asthma affects as many as 150 million people around the world and the number is rising. The reason for the scientific interest in finding the asthma gene is connected to the huge financial potential involved with developing a new drug to treat asthma sufferers.

Several genes have been connected to asthma, but the gene found by Danish scientists is an individual immunological gene that seems to be directly connected to the risk of developing asthma.