PMID- 16409204
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20060622
LR  - 20061115
IS  - 0105-4538 (Print)
IS  - 0105-4538 (Linking)
VI  - 61
IP  - 2
DP  - 2006 Feb
TI  - Variance components analyses of multiple asthma traits in a large sample of 
      Australian families ascertained through a twin proband.
PG  - 245-53
AB  - BACKGROUND: Intermediate phenotypes are often measured as a proxy for asthma. It 
      is largely unclear to what extent the same set of environmental or genetic 
      factors regulate these traits. OBJECTIVE: Estimate the environmental and genetic 
      correlations between self-reported and clinical asthma traits. METHODS: A total 
      of 3,073 subjects from 802 families were ascertained through a twin proband. 
      Traits measured included self-reported asthma, airway histamine responsiveness 
      (AHR), skin prick response to common allergens including house dust mite 
      (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus [D. pter]), baseline lung function, total serum 
      immunoglobulin E (IgE) and eosinophilia. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of 
      eight traits were performed with adjustment for ascertainment and significant 
      covariates. RESULTS: Overall 2,716 participants completed an asthma questionnaire 
      and 2,087 were clinically tested, including 1,289 self-reported asthmatics (92% 
      previously diagnosed by a doctor). Asthma, AHR, markers of allergic sensitization 
      and eosinophilia had significant environmental correlations with each other 
      (range: 0.23-0.89). Baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) showed low 
      environmental correlations with most traits. Fewer genetic correlations were 
      significantly different from zero. Phenotypes with greatest genetic similarity 
      were asthma and atopy (0.46), IgE and eosinophilia (0.44), AHR and D. pter (0.43) 
      and AHR and airway obstruction (-0.43). Traits with greatest genetic 
      dissimilarity were FEV(1) and atopy (0.05), airway obstruction and IgE (0.07) and 
      FEV(1) and D. pter (0.11). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the same set of 
      environmental factors regulates the variation of many asthma traits. In addition, 
      although most traits are regulated to great extent by specific genetic factors, 
      there is still some degree of genetic overlap that could be exploited by 
      multivariate linkage approaches.
FAU - Ferreira, M A R
AU  - Ferreira MA
AD  - Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
FAU - O'Gorman, L
AU  - O'Gorman L
FAU - Le Souef, P
AU  - Le Souef P
FAU - Burton, P R
AU  - Burton PR
FAU - Toelle, B G
AU  - Toelle BG
FAU - Robertson, C F
AU  - Robertson CF
FAU - Martin, N G
AU  - Martin NG
FAU - Duffy, D L
AU  - Duffy DL
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Twin Study
PL  - Denmark
TA  - Allergy
JT  - Allergy
JID - 7804028
RN  - 0 (Immunoglobulin G)
SB  - IM
MH  - Asthma/*genetics
MH  - Australia
MH  - Eosinophilia/genetics
MH  - Female
MH  - *Genetic Predisposition to Disease
MH  - Humans
MH  - Hypersensitivity/*genetics
MH  - Hypersensitivity, Immediate/genetics
MH  - Immunoglobulin G/blood
MH  - Male
MH  - Pedigree
MH  - Respiratory Function Tests
MH  - Twins/*genetics
EDAT- 2006/01/18 09:00
MHDA- 2006/06/23 09:00
CRDT- 2006/01/18 09:00
PHST- 2006/01/18 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2006/06/23 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2006/01/18 09:00 [entrez]
AID - ALL954 [pii]
AID - 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2005.00954.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Allergy. 2006 Feb;61(2):245-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2005.00954.x.