The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified genes associated with asthma, however expression of these genes in asthma-relevant tissues has not been studied. This study tested expression and correlation between GWAS-identified asthma genes and asthma or asthma severity. ⋯ This is the first report studying the expression of GWAS-identified asthma genes in BEC and BAL. IL13, rather than RAD50, IL4, or IL5, is more likely to be the asthma susceptibility gene. Our study illustrates tissue-specific expression of asthma-related genes. Therefore, whenever possible, disease-relevant tissues should be used for transcription analysis.