New insight into the genes susceptible to asthma.

There is considerable worldwide interest in identifying genes related to susceptibility to asthma. Progress has been slow in part because of the complexity and heterogeneity of the disease. Although at least 170 genes located on 10 chromosomes have been associated with or in linkage with asthma and asthma-related phenotypes, the majority of the reports have either been preliminary or the results have been controversial. In order to overcome the problems with the inherent complexity of asthma and methodological issues, the authors propose a strategy for identification of asthma susceptibility genes based on theories of systems biology and bioinformatics and candidate gene approach.