Allergic rhinitis discovered cause of many rhinitis disorders

Rhinitis Diseases: World's Largest Genetic Study of Allergic Cold

In a new study on allergic cold, researchers identified 20 previously unknown risk genes. According to the experts, this explains about eight percent of allergic rhinitis diseases.

The most common form of allergy

Almost a third of German adults and around one in four children suffers from an allergy. The allergic rhinitis (in the jargon called allergic rhinitis) is the most common form of allergy. An international team of scientists led by the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University of Copenhagen has now presented the largest ever study on allergic rhinitis. The data of nearly 900,000 participants revealed sites in the human genome whose changes significantly increase the risk of disease.

The allergic rhinitis is the most common form of allergy. In a large study, it has now been possible to reveal sites in the human genome whose changes significantly increase the risk of disease. (Image: Sandor Jackal / fotolia.com)

Around 400 million people affected worldwide

The allergic rhinitis includes several clinical pictures, which are typically triggered by allergens from the air.

These include, among others, hay fever but also house dust mite and animal hair allergy.

As the Helmholtz Center Munich writes in a report, around 400 million people worldwide are affected by the disease, especially in Western countries, the trend is rising.

"To improve the prevention and treatment of this disease, we must first understand why the body defends itself against certain, actually harmless substances," explains Dr. med. Marie Standl, working group leader at the Institute of Epidemiology of the Helmholtz Zentrum München.

The first author of the current work, which was published in the journal "Nature Genetics", was instrumental in the elaborate statistical analysis of the data of almost 900,000 subjects.

Genetic differences between people with and without allergic rhinitis

The aim of the research within the framework of the EAGLE (Early Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology) research network was to identify genetic differences between people with and without allergic rhinitis.

In a first step, the researchers compared the genome of around 60,000 allergic rhinitis patients with those of over 150,000 healthy controls and identified a group of 42 significant risk genes, some of which have already been described in the literature.

In the second step, they were then able to confirm a total of 20 previously unknown risk genes based on the data of another 60,000 affected persons and 620,000 healthy controls.

"The higher the number of study participants, the safer the statement we can make," says Standl. "Due to the known risk genes can be explained in about eight percent of allergic rhinitis diseases."

Not clear why so many people develop allergic rhinitis

Subsequently, the scientists used databases to investigate which functions could be assigned to said genes.

In fact, according to the experts, most of them already had an association with the immune system, including the binding of antigens.

In addition, a strong overlap of risk genes for allergic rhinitis and autoimmune diseases was observed.

"The sites we identify in the genome promote understanding of the mechanisms of allergic rhinitis and hopefully open up new target structures for its treatment and prevention," explains Dr. med. Klaus Bønnelykke.

He led the study together with his colleagues Johannes Waage and Hans Bisgaard from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, COPSAC for short, at the University of Copenhagen.

"However, the genes found only partially explain why so many people develop allergic rhinitis. An important next step will be to explore the interplay of risk genes and the environment, "the expert said. (Ad)