Researchers have gained more insight into the genetic risk factors for asthma with hay fever thanks to consumer genetic testing. 23andMe, a direct-to-consumer gene testing company has conducted the first genome-wide association study of the combined conditions.
The research, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology was led by scientists at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia. Researchers pinpointed 11 independent genetic markers associated with asthma with hay fever. Two of them were at a level that significantly linked them to allergic disease.
David Hinds, Ph.D., study author and 23andMe principal scientist, said that while there had been evidence of a genetic link for the combined phenotype—asthma with hay fever—there hadn’t yet been a genome-wide study to further explore this connection before now.
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Read the full, original story: Despite FDA Warning, 23andMe Continues Research on Genetic Causes of Allergies
