By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A research team made up of Koreans and experts from 10 other countries claims to have identified a gene that causes asthma, heralding the discovery as a world first.
According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, Prof. Park Chun-shik and Eo Su-taeg of Soon Chun Hyang University and Prof. Shin Hyoung-doo of Sogang University, among other found that people with the rs1420101 gene have a higher chance of contracting the condition.
The gene is part of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) IL1RL1 (interleukin 1 receptor-like 1) gene sequence. The SNP is said to differ from person to person and race to race.
The researchers said their results showed that people with the rs1420101 gene, regardless of race or physical characteristics, are more likely to have asthma after it was linked to the formation of the inflammatory cell causing the disease.
The IL1RL1 had been thought to have a strong correlation with asthma, and the findings appear to provide scientific proof of its link to the condition, the team said.
The research was carried out by doctors from Korea, Iceland, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingsom, Sweden, Denmark, the United States and Hong Kong after monitoring some 50,000 patients.
Park said that once methods to control rs1420101 are established, scientific breakthroughs can be pursued with the aim of eventually curing the condition.