1. ¹INSERM U535, Hôpital Paul Brousse, Bâtiment Leriche, Villejuif Cedex, France
2. ²INSERM EMI 00-06, Evry, France
3. ³Centre National de Génotypage, Evry, France
4. ⁴Clinique des maladies respiratoires, INSERM U454, Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuve, Montpellier, France
5. ⁵Service de pneumologie-allergologie, Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France
6. ⁶Service de Pneumologie, centre hospitalier Lyon-Sud, Pierre Benite
7. ⁷INSERM U436, Paris, France
8. ⁸Centre de diagnostic et traitement de l'asthme, Hôpital Trousseau, Paris, France
9. ⁹INSERM U472, Villejuif, France
10. ¹⁰Laboratoire d'exploration fonctionnelle, Hôpital Calmette, Lille, France
11. ¹¹INSERM U408, Paris, France
12. ¹²Service de pneumologie infantile, Hôpital Necker, Paris, France
13. ¹³Département de Médecine Aigüe Spécialisée, CHU Michallon, Grenoble, France
14. ¹⁴Service de pneumo-allergologie, Hôpital Ste Marguerite, UPRES EA 3287, Marseille, France

Correspondence: Dr M-H Dizier, INSERM U535, Hôpital Paul Brousse, Bâtiment Leriche, BP 1000, 94817 Villejuif Cedex, France. E-mail: dizier@vjf.inserm.fr

Received 9 July 2004; Revised 1 December 2004; Accepted 1 December 2004; Published online 27 January 2005.

Abstract

In the sample of 295 French EGEA families with at least one asthmatic subject, a genome screen was conducted to identify potential linkage regions specific either to allergic rhinitis (AR) or to asthma as well as those shared by the two diseases. Two binary rhinitis phenotypes based on (1) diagnosis (AR_bin1) and (2) symptoms (AR_bin2) and a categorical ordered trait (AR_cat) were considered. Asthma phenotype was based on answers to a standardized questionnaire plus the presence of bronchial hyper-responsiveness. Linkage analyses were conducted using the maximum likelihood binomial (MLB) method. These analyses provided potential evidence for linkage to three regions in the whole sample: 1p31 for the phenotype defined by AR_bin2 plus asthma (P=0.00016), 2q32 for AR_bin2 (P=0.00016) and 3p24–p14 for AR_cat (P=0.001). Two other regions were detected in the subset of 185 families with at most one asthmatic sib: 9p22 and 9q22–q34 for AR_bin1 (P=0.001 and 0.0007, respectively). No region showed evidence for linkage to asthma without being also linked to AR. While 1p31 may contain a genetic determinant common to asthma and AR, 2q32, 3p24–p14, 9p22 and 9q22–q34 are more likely to harbor genetic factors specific to AR.