Eczema gene disorders link to ethnicity

A Dundee-led research initiative have come a step closer to a full understanding of eczema and related allergic diseases with the discovery that people from different ethnic backgrounds have different mutations of the gene that causes the debilitating skin disorder.

Professor Irwin McLean and his team in the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, together with Dr Alan Irvine in Dublin, have used a groundbreaking new method to examine the gene and have so far found 15 different mutations within in the gene.

Of the mutations, five were prevalent in the European patients examined, who were mainly from the UK and Ireland, and nine per cent of the population were shown to carry these gene defects. There are two mutations which are the most prevalent in all European people.

Eczema affects one in five children in the UK alone and is just as common in most parts of the world. In the UK and Irish populations, the Dundee and Dublin groups have shown that the gene is involved about half of the severe, difficult-to-treat cases of eczema.

There were also two mutations prevalent in the Oriental populations that were tested. Four per cent of people of Chinese descent carry this mutation, meaning it could lead to eczema in more than 50 million people in the Far East alone.

The team made a major breakthrough last year when they reported that defects in the filaggrin gene can cause dry skin, eczema, eczema-associated asthma and other allergies. Their continued work has now shown that within the gene there can be several faults and that eczema sufferers of different ethnic backgrounds will have different faults within the gene. Their findings were published in Nature.

Based on the results, it is predicted that the filaggrin gene will be found to be a major gene for these diseases in the global sense.

The knowledge that Irwin McLean's team is building will help them to develop a full picture of the disease, enable genetic testing, and take them a step closer to discovering new more effective treatments in years to come.

Professor McLean says, "Once we cracked this exceptionally difficult gene, we were surprised to learn how many different defects in filaggrin were waiting to be discovered, not only in European people, but other populations worldwide."

"This is the most exciting and fast-moving project we have been involved in and the lab is buzzing with excitement."