Abstract
To develop new therapies for allergic diseases, novel target genes must be identified. There are three strategies in the research on identification of disease-related genes which could be candidates of novel target genes: 1) positional cloning based on linkage analysis of the disease phenotypes and marker genes; 2) identification of polymorphisms of a gene of known function that influences disease development, and a study on the relationship between particular polymorphisms and disease phenotypes; 3) exhaustive analysis of differentially expressed genes between patients and controls using a method of differential display (DD) or DNA arrays and so on. From the point of view that many atopic genes are involved in the development of allergic diseases, the third approach would be the most promising since the gene network underlying the disease could be identified.
Based on analysis of differentially expressd genes in T cells and eosinophils from allergy patients using the DD method, Genox Research Inc, has identified approximately fifty novel genes whose expression is correlated with various disease phenotypes.
