Susceptibility genes for asthma and allergy: Hits and questions

Allergy and asthma are closely related conditions which result from a compl ex interaction between several genetic and environmental factors. On the ba sis of familial link-age analysis data from different populations, some chr omosomal regions containing a series of susceptibility loci have been ident ified. To date, genome-wide search studies have reported a group of chromos omal regions which include most likely several candidate genes for asthma a nd allergy. Some of these genes are excellent candidates, as they are known to modulate the immune response and airways inflammation processes, So, by focusing efforts on the analysis of those chromosomal regions, the charact erization of the potentially important genes can be achieved. This will und oubtedly provide a clue for a better understanding of those pathologic comp onents involved in the onset and development of asthma and allergic disorde rs.