Replication of an association between 17q21 SNPs and asthma in a French-Canadian familial collection.

Asthma is a complex trait which is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. In a recent genome-wide association study on asthma in European subjects, novel associations were reported between 17q21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and childhood asthma. We performed an association study with the ten SNPs that showed the strongest association in a French-Canadian asthmatic familial collection. Family-based association tests revealed significant associations for eight SNPs (0.005 < P < 0.017) and for two haplotypes (P = 0.0004 and 0.002), confirming the 17q21 as an asthma locus.