Doctor-diagnosed asthma was associated with common risk alleles for early onset asthma at gene locus 17q21 (P = .01 for rs8069176; P = .03 for rs8076131), and higher airways resistance (P = .02) and FENO levels (P = .03).
We found a cis expression quantitative trait locus for the transcript soluble galactoside-binding lectin 9 (LGALS9) that is in linkage disequilibrium with rs944722. rs8069176 was associated with GSDMB and ORM1-like 3 (ORMDL3) expression. rs8069176 at 17q12-q21, but not rs3751972 and rs944722 at 17q11.2-q12, were associated with physician-diagnosed asthma.
For two of these six loci (rs2305480 and rs8067378), there was evidence of association with asthma, and there was a weak association of asthma with rs8069176.
Eleven SNPs were significantly associated with asthma (P<0.01), of which three (rs8069176, rs2305480, and rs4795400) were strongly associated (P<0.001).