The findings of a new study, published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, have revealed that a new gene called DEBNND1B, which is involved in the immune system function, can bring about a 50 percent increase in the risk of ‘moderate to severe’ childhood asthma. The only other gene thus far known to be associated with the asthma risk is ORMLD3.

The identification of the special mutations in the DEBNND1B gene may pave the way for potential treatment of the niggling illness, which results either from genetic factors or environmental factors or an interaction between these two.

For the study, led by Dr Hakon Hakonarson, director of the Center for Applied Genomics at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital, the US scientists compared the genes of 793 children with unrelenting asthma to those the genes of 1,988 children without asthma, and found a variation in their genetic code of the children suffering from the disease.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Hakonarson said: “We now know that the DENND1B gene and its protein are involved in the release of cytokines, which are signalling molecules that in this case tell the body how it should respond to foreign particles. Many of these particles are well-known triggers of asthma.”

Dr Hakonarson further added that the gene mutations in DENND1B apparently “lead to overproduction of cytokines that subsequently drive this oversensitive response in asthma patients.”