The gene, called c11orf30/EMSY (EMSY), is already known to play a role in other allergy-related conditions, such as eczema, asthma, and allergic rhinitis but is also found to be related to peanut allergy. This study is the first to //associate the EMSY locus with food allergy, and these findings suggest that the gene plays an important role in the development of not just food allergy but also general allergic predisposition.
‘EMSY gene plays an important role in the development of not just food allergy but also general allergic predisposition.’
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AllerGen researchers Drs Denise Daley (Associate Professor, The University of British Columbia, Centre for Heart Lung Innovation at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC) and Ann Clarke (Professor, University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, AB; Adjunct Professor, McGill University, Montreal, QC) led the research. "Food allergy is the result of both genetic and environmental factors, but there are surprisingly few data regarding the genetic basis of this condition," says Dr. Daley, a Tier II Canada Research Chair at St. Paul's in the genetic epidemiology of common complex diseases.
"The discovery of this genetic link gives us a fuller picture of the causes of food allergies, and this could eventually help doctors identify children at risk." Peanut allergy develops in early life and is rarely outgrown. Roughly one percent of Canadian adults and between two and three per cent of Canadian children are affected, and the symptoms can be severe and even life threatening.
For their study, the researchers analyzed DNA from 850 individuals with a peanut allergy recruited from the Canadian Peanut Allergy Registry (CanPAR) and nearly 1,000 individuals without a peanut allergy.
The team scanned over 7.5 million genetic markers across the DNA through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) searching for clues as to which genes might contribute to an increased risk of developing food allergies. The team also analyzed results from six other genetic studies from American, Australian, German and Dutch populations.
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"Our team had previously published findings that a defect in the filaggrin gene can increase the risk of a child developing an allergy to peanuts," says Dr. Asai. Yet, mutations in the filaggrin gene were only present in 20 percent of the allergic cases, she points out, which means that "this GWAS study was critical to shedding more light on the specific gene mechanisms at play."
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Source-Eurekalert