Associations between the 17q21 region and allergic rhinitis in 5 birth cohorts

Elaine Fuertes, MSc

, 

Cilla Söderhäll, PhD

, 

Nathalie Acevedo, MD, MSc

, 

Allan Becker, MD

, 

Michael Brauer, ScD

, 

Moira Chan-Yeung, MB

, 

F. Nicole Dijk, MD

, 

Joachim Heinrich, PhD

, 

Johan de Jongste, MD, PhD

, 

Gerard H. Koppelman, MD, PhD

, 

Dirkje S. Postma, MD, PhD

, 

Juha Kere, MD, PhD

, 

Anita L. Kozyrskyj, PhD

, 

Göran Pershagen, MD, PhD

,

Andrew Sandford, PhD

, 

Marie Standl, PhD

, 

Carla M.T. Tiesler, MSc

, 

Melanie Waldenberger, PhD

, 

Marit Westman, MD

, 

Christopher Carlsten, MD, MPH

, 

Erik Melén, MD, PhD

Open Access

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2014.08.016

Open access funded by the Author(s)

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The high heritability and comorbidity between allergic rhinitis and asthma suggest common etiologies and genetic susceptibility loci. Among the most robust signals for asthma is the chromosomal locus 17q21.1 Studies that examined whether this strong asthma locus is also associated with allergic rhinitis have yielded conflicting results. A recent large genome-wide association study (GWAS)2 and a candidate gene study3 identified associations between genetic variants at the 17q21 locus and allergic rhinitis, in contrast to null findings in previous GWASs on allergic rhinitis4,5 and self-reported allergy.