Trial Information

Histamine Pharmacogenetics in Children With Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common condition in the pediatric population, affecting an
estimated 15% of all children greater than 18 months of age in the United States. It is now
recognized that AD is a disease of significant heterogeneity with respect to both disease
severity and response to conventional pharmacologic therapies. With the recognition of this
variability comes the understanding that, as with many other allergic disease, there exist
many specific disease phenotypes that ultimately govern response to pharmacologic
intervention. The characterization of these unique phenotypes and their associated biologic
mediators is therefore of critical therapeutic importance in the development of disease and
patient-specific treatment strategies.

The long term objective of this research is to explore the effects of genetic, environmental
and developmental influences on the primary determinants of histamine action in atopic
children and to identify potential histamine "haplotypes" that may be predictive of disease
severity, progression and/or response to therapy.

The primary hypothesis is the presence of HNMT T314 allele and /or slow acetylation genotype
is associated with childhood atopic dermatitis.