The Correlation between SNP and Asthmatic Patients Diagnosed as Hot/Cold Patterns According to Traditional Chinese Medicine Principles

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in the treatment of airway diseases, including bronchial asthma. However, solid scientific evidence with the use of TCM has not been available, particularly concern related to quantitative diagnosis and the efficacy or mechanisms of the herbal drugs. According to Chinese medical practice, acute asthma symptoms are usually divided into many types and use different combination of herb to treat the patients. The immune responses in the patients with these two types were analyzed at acute exacerbation and convalescent stages. The results indicate that the patients diagnosed with heat-pattern had higher serum total and Der p I-specific IgE levels. On the other hand, significantly decreased ECP level was detected from patients with cold-pattern and treated with proper herbal mixture. In this study, we would like to apply signal nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis on asthmatic patients. Doctors will try to distinguish patients into either heat- or cold-pattern according to TCM principles and document the characters quantitatively. The genomic DNA from patients will be subjected as templates for SNP at the potential asthma-related regions on IL-4, IL-4R, FceRI, TNF, and RANTES genes. In addition, a high density of SNP map will be established within 1 Mb of chromosome 5q31 cytokine gene cluster region. The results will not only provide the scientific significance at molecular level for TCM, but also important clues for the designs of new therapeutic approach for asthma.

Project ID:PG9204-0535
External Project ID:CCMP92-RD-023