Oxford researchers Dr Miriam Moffat and Professor William Cookson have taken a dramatic step towards enhancing our understanding of asthma. The pair, and their team at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford have identified gene that predisposes the carrier asthma and atopy, a form of hypersensitivity that causes allergies. The discovery comes as a result of hard years of research, which has put the Oxford team in the select group of only a handful of organisations that have made similar discoveries. However, scientists are warning sufferers not to rush down to their GPs just yet. Professor Cookson the first to admit that the task translating the findings into treatments “will not be accomplished overnight.” The association of asthma with genes lessens the likelihood that weather conditions are to blame, which are for many are an unalterable reality of daily life.
ARCHIVE: 4th week TT 2003
Asthma Gene
