Recently there have been many advances in human genetics. The completion of the Human Genome project will result in a paradigm shift for health care. It is well known that many diseases are ethnic specific while other diseases disproportionately affect some ethnic groups more than others. Asthma is one such disease that disproportionately affects Latino and African American communities. In order to ensure that these communities benefit from the recent advances which have resulted from the Human Genome project we are studying ethnic specific genetic risk factors for asthma and asthma severity among Latino and African American asthmatics.

It is now well established that among U.S. residents of similar socio-economic status, there is greater asthma morbidity and mortality among Latino Americans and African Americans than among Caucasian Americans. In addition, there are striking differences in reported rates of asthma morbidity and mortality among specific Latino American ethnic groups. Specifically, reported rates of asthma morbidity and mortality are higher among Puerto Rican Americans than among Mexican Americans. This is in stark contrast to the near geographic uniformity of asthma morbidity and mortality rates among African Americans and Caucasians in the U.S. The differences in asthma prevalence and severity among Latino Americans on the two coasts may reflect differences in the genetic contributions of ancestral Native American, Spanish and African populations to the Latino population on the east coast (predominantly Puerto Rican) and west coast (predominantly Mexican). The Genetics of Asthma in Latino Americans (GALA) Study is designed to determine whether there are identifiable genetic factors that are associated with asthma and severe asthma among Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, the two largest U.S. Hispanic groups. The study is a multicenter study involving UCSF, Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harlem Hospital, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan and the National Institute of Pulmonary Disease (Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, INER) of Mexico City. Specifically, we will recruit Latino American asthmatic children (probands) and their biologic parents (n=2400) from California, New York, Mexico City and Puerto Rico during a 2 year period. Probands will undergo formal phenotypic characterization.

We will assemble a repository of DNA and plasma from the probands and their parents. We will identify novel genetic variants (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) among candidate genes at loci, where there is evidence to suggest linkage to asthma in previous studies of other populations. We will determine whether novel SNPs and SNPs known to be associated with asthma in other populations are associated with asthma in Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans. The creation of a repository of DNA from well-characterized Latino American asthmatics will enable future analysis of other genes identified in other studies. The results of this work may have important implications for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of asthma not only in Latino Americans, but in other populations as well. The overall objective of the proposed research project is to apply novel advances in genomics towards improving the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in medically underserved populations. This proposal’s focus is consistent with the goal established by Healthy People, to reduce disparities in health among different populations.

For more information, please contact
Esteban González Burchard, M.D.
Tel: 415-206-3491
Fax: 415-206-3463
e-mail: eburch@itsa.ucsf.edu.