Prevalence of allergy and allergic asthma are increasing worldwide. More than half of the US population has a positive skin prick test and approximately 10% are asthmatics. Many studies have been conducted to define immunological pathways underlying allergy and asthma development and to identify the main genetic determinants. In the effort to find missing pieces of the puzzle, new genomic approaches and more standardized ones, such as the candidate gene approach, have been used collectively. This article proposes an overview of the actual knowledge about immunological and genetic aspects of allergy and asthma. Special attention has been drawn to the challenges linked to genetic research in complex traits such as asthma and to the contribution of new genomic approaches.
Keywords: allergy; asthma; genetics; genomics; immune response.