Asthma related to vitamin D by 4 plausible genes – Nov 2013

Vitamin D related genes in lung development and asthma pathogenesis.

BMC Med Genomics. 2013 Nov 5;6(1):47.
Kho AT, Sharma S, Qiu W, Gaedigk R, Klanderman B, Niu S, Anderson C, Leeder JS, Weiss ST, Tantisira KG.

BACKGROUND: Poor maternal vitamin D intake is a risk factor for subsequent childhood asthma, suggesting that in utero changes related to vitamin D responsive genes might play a crucial role in later disease susceptibility. We hypothesized that vitamin D pathway genes are developmentally active in the fetal lung and that these developmental genes would be associated with asthma susceptibility and regulation in asthma.

METHODS: Vitamin D pathway genes were derived from PubMed and Gene Ontology surveys. Principal component analysis was used to identify characteristic lung development genes.

RESULTS: Vitamin D regulated genes were markedly over-represented in normal human (odds ratio OR 2.15, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.69-2.74) and mouse (OR 2.68, 95% CI: 2.12-3.39) developing lung transcriptomes. 38 vitamin D pathway genes were in both developing lung transcriptomes with >63% of genes more highly expressed in the later than earlier stages of development. In immortalized B-cells derived from 95 asthmatics and their unaffected siblings, 12 of the 38 (31.6%) vitamin D pathway lung development genes were significantly differentially expressed (OR 3.00, 95% CI: 1.43-6.21), whereas 11 (29%) genes were significantly differentially expressed in 43 control versus vitamin D treated immortalized B-cells from Childhood Asthma Management Program subjects (OR 2.62, 95% CI: 1.22-5.50). 4 genes, LAMP3, PIP5K1B, SCARB2 and TXNIP were identified in both groups; each displays significant biologic plausibility for a role in asthma.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate a significant association between early lung development and asthma-related phenotypes for vitamin D pathway genes, supporting a genomic mechanistic basis for the epidemiologic observations relating maternal vitamin D intake and childhood asthma susceptibility.

PMID: 24188128

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See also Vitamin D Life

• Overview Asthma and Vitamin D
• Asthma strongly associated with modification in vitamin D genes
• All items in Genetics and vitamin D 266 items

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