• Asthma is a complex disease, there is no one gene that determines if a person has or does not have asthma; asthma could be called a “polygenetic” disorder
• Thus, asthma is not controlled by a “recessive gene” or a “dominant gene” – it’s much more complex and there is still much doctors and scientists do not know about asthma
• It is more likely that people who have asthma inherited factors that made them inclined to develop asthma, rather than any one gene that directly caused asthma
• This means that if your parent(s) have asthma, you will not necessarily develop asthma
• A child who has one parent with asthma has a 15-25 percent chance of developing asthma
• Experts believe people develop asthma because of a genetic predisposition toward asthma combined with factors in the environment
• Studies of twins who have asthma show about 50 percent of the risk is related to genetic factors and 50 percent is related to factors in the environment

In the future, it may be possible for physicians to determine which genes are contributing to an individual’s tendency to have asthma. They may be able to prescribe medication that will more effectively control that individual’s asthma with fewer side effects. This is still many years away and will require continued intense research.

References:

1. Slutsky AS. Genetics of Asthma: From Chicken Soup to Napoleon to Toronto. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 1999;39:246- 251

2. McCunney RJ. Asthma, Genes, and Air Pollution. J Occup Environ Med. 2005;47:1285-1291

3. Steinke JW, Borish L. Genetics of Allergic Disease. Med Clin N Am 2006;90:1-15