Genetic Analysis of Allergic Disease in Twins

One hundred seven pairs of twins, sixty-one MZT and forty-six DZT, were investigated for allergic disease by a questionnaire, reaginic antibody levels, bronchial reactivity to inhaled methacholine, and skin test responses. Intrapair correlation coefficients (ri) of measured clinical markers of atopy were determined and a heritability analysis was performed. The intrapair correlation coefficient for serum IgE was 0.82 for MZT and 0.52 for DZT. The methacholine area demonstrated greater correlation in MZT with an ri of 0.67 compared to 0.34 for DZT. The total ISTS had an intrapair correlation coefficient of 0.82 in MZT and 0.46 in DZT. Our analysis demonstrates that methacholine sensitivity, total serum IgE levels, and total skin test scores to be heritable traits and suggests a genetic contribution to their expression.