Grant: Project Grant

Nearly 1-in-3 Canadians suffer from an allergic disease, such as asthma, food allergy and eczema. Globally, asthma alone affects an estimated 300 million people, with annual costs over $20 billion dollars worldwide. Solutions to this allergy health crisis are urgently needed. Understanding how and why allergies occur can help us find answers to prevent and treat these burdensome conditions. In our research we use new and innovative ways to understand how the immune system causes allergic disease. We begin by studying people who have severe allergic conditions caused by changes in genes that control how their immune system works. These conditions are called primary atopic disorders (or PADs). We work with clinicians across Canada and the world to identify patients who may be suffering from a PAD. With the full consent of the patient, we use new gene sequencing technologies to read their genetic material or DNA and look for troublesome changes ("mutations"). If mutations are identified in genes that have not been reported in PADs, we then perform experiments to prove that these mutations are responsible for the patient's symptoms. In this project, our initial focus is to study changes in three genes that we have identified in patients with PADs. This is the first time changes in these genes have been reported in other patients with PADs, so they are an exciting and important starting place. Finally, we will work with a large study (the CHILD cohort) that has data and samples for over 3000 Canadian children to determine if changes in the PAD genes are also associated with common allergic diseases. This research is important and timely. Understanding what causes PADs is life-changing for the affected people and families. It means we can find better treatments for them. Our work also provides a unique opportunity to discover how changes in the human immune system cause or contribute to allergic diseases.