Gene-environment interactions in asthma and allergy
We are studying the relationship between genotype and phenotype in asthma and allergies and how it is modulated by environmental factors. Our early life birth cohort (Manchester Asthma and Allergy Study) is population-based, fully genotyped, with careful longitudinal phenotyping and contemporaneous measurement of environmental exposures.Results are replicated through close UK and international collaborations. For example we have shown that:
- High endotoxin exposure is protective against the development of allergies, but only in children with a specific genotype (C allele homozygotes of CD14/-159),
- Day-care attendance protects against allergy and asthma, in children carrying the T allele for TLR2/−16934, but is associated with increased risk in AA homozygotes
- Early-life cat ownership increases the risk of the development of eczema, but only amongst children with filaggrin loss-of-function mutations.