Asthma and endocrine disorders: Shared mechanisms and genetic pleiotropy

Asthma is a common inflammatory disease for which the cause is not yet known. Studies of the epidemiology and natural history of childhood asthma into adulthood demonstrate a change in gender prevalence with age. Hormones and inflammation may interact in asthma pathogenesis and determine its course. The same may be true for some endocrine disorders, including diabetes and obesity. Obesity plays a major role in the development of the metabolic syndrome and has been identified as an important risk factor for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of asthma has paralleled the rise in obesity, suggesting that shared environmental factors could affect both conditions. In addition, endocrine diseases and asthma may share common genetic determinants. In the first part of this review we assess endocrine influences on asthma and overlaps between endocrine disorders and asthma while in the second part we explore the potential benefit of comparative genetic analyses between asthma and endocrine diseases.