A specific gene may be the key to treating children with asthma more effectively. For some children, the common inhaler medicines prescribed for the condition do not help to relieve their symptoms. Researchers from Brighton & Sussex Medical School have now pinpointed the presence of a gene called arginine-16 (Arg16) as the determining factor in deciding if the drugs work or not.
In the UK, around 1.1 million children have asthma and many are prescribed a generic drug called salmeterol to deal with symptoms such as wheezing and coughing, tightness of chest and shortness of breath.
The Brighton team had identified the possible link between Arg16 and salmeterol following the results of a 2009 study. Their research, published in the journal Clinical Science, involved 62 children with asthma who had the Arg16 genotype and who were not responding to the usual treatment with steroid preventer inhalers.
The children were prescribed either salmeterol or another generic drug called montelukast to be taken along with an inhaler and their progress monitored over a year by the researchers. The results showed that those with the Arg16 gene change are less likely to respond to treatment using salmeterol. The Arg16 gene is said to be present in around 150,000 children who have asthma.
The study concluded that those children who did not respond to salmeterol are suffering needlessly and using a genetic test that costs around £15 would allow asthma specialists to pinpoint when a child needs a different medication.
Specialists in the asthma field are now pushing for larger trials to be carried out to test the Brighton team’s findings further and for more research into the possible genes that affect asthma treatment. This could bring a breakthrough in asthma treatment, allowing doctors to tailor treatment specifically for a child.
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