Chapter 74 – Asthma

Genomics of asthma has had a continuous advance since the completion of the mapping of the human genome in 2003. There are 37 asthma genes identified via candidate gene studies and another 14 genes from positional cloning and GWAS that have been identified. The translation of these basic discoveries to clinical prediction or novel biologic insights into asthma biology has been slow. One gene, identified via positional cloning, the vitamin D receptor, has been found to be related to asthma, and has resulted in a translational program involving the role of vitamin D in asthma pathogenesis and treatment. If the clinical trials on vitamin D in asthma prevention and asthma treatment are successful, then we will have moved from discovery genomics to a new preventative and treatment for asthma in less than ten years which would further validate the potential role of genomics in translational medicine.