In Russian population of Siberia asthma is usually concomitant with high sensitization to indoor allergens (cat, dog and house dust mites), overproduction of total immunoglobulin E (IgE) and airway hyperreactivity. Definition of genes that predispose to development of various sub-components of the asthma phenotype is important for understanding of etiology of this disease.
To map genes predisposing to asthma, we tested 21 microsatellite markers from candidate chromosomal regions in 136 Russian nuclear families with asthma from Siberia.