Your body uses the ADAM33 gene to help build, maintain, and repair the tissues in the airways. This gene plays an important role in how cells lining the breathing tubes and supporting tissues grow and interact. If the gene does not work as expected, airway walls may change shape more easily over time, which can contribute to wheezing and a higher chance of asthma in some people. Many variants in this gene have little effect on health.
What is a gene?
Genes are sections of DNA that carry instructions your cells use to make molecules or regulate processes in the body. Some genes provide the directions for producing proteins, the parts of cells that do much of the work. Other genes mainly help control when certain processes happen, where they happen, and how strongly they are turned on. Together, genes affect how the body develops and works, and they can also influence how you respond to food, stress, or medications. For a more detailed look at this topic, you can find more in the LearnHub.
Overview
ADAM33Gene function
What if the gene works
The ADAM33 gene helps make a protein involved in cell signaling and tissue remodeling. It is active in airway and connective tissue cells, where it supports normal growth and repair.
Risk
What if the gene does not work
Changes in the ADAM33 gene can range from milder to more severe and may reduce how well cells trim and remodel proteins on their surface. This can alter cell signaling and how tissues repair and remodel themselves.
Treatment
What does that mean for your treatment
No ADAM33-specific treatment or drug choice is currently established in clinical guidelines. The ADAM33 gene is being studied as a possible biomarker and drug target in asthma and airway remodeling research, but this has not yet changed routine care.
Gene function
What if the gene works
Its protein sits at the cell surface. In daily cell function, the ADAM33 gene helps cells communicate with their surroundings and adjust nearby tissue. It cuts certain proteins and influences how cells attach and send signals. Understanding how the ADAM33 gene works in the body helps explain its role in routine tissue upkeep.
Its protein can cut selected proteins at the cell surface. This helps release or reshape signals that nearby cells use.
The ADAM33 gene helps cells interact with the tissue scaffold around them. These contacts support normal cell anchoring and help guide how cells respond to their environment.
By changing proteins on the cell surface, this gene influences messages between cells. These signals help coordinate everyday processes such as cell movement, growth, and settling into place.
ADAM33 activity contributes to tissue remodeling, the normal process of renewing and adjusting tissue structure. This steady upkeep helps tissues stay organized during everyday wear and repair.
What is a variant?
A genetic variant is a small alteration in the DNA sequence within a gene. These changes are common and are part of normal human diversity, including differences in appearance, metabolism, or how the body responds to environmental influences. Many variants do not have any noticeable effect and simply represent natural genetic variation. In some situations, however, a variant can affect how a gene functions more substantially and may contribute to or cause a genetic condition.
Genetic variants
What if the gene does not work
Changes in the ADAM33 gene can alter how much protein is made, how well it folds, and how effectively it cuts or binds nearby proteins at the cell surface. Some variants mainly tweak splicing, while more disruptive variants can reduce protein stability or sharply lower enzyme activity, which helps explain how ADAM33 gene variants affect protein function. This functional range often runs from mild changes in activity to near loss of normal protein behavior.
How variants are linked to conditions
Current research on how ADAM33 gene variants are linked to conditions is still developing. The ADAM33 gene does not yet have a broadly confirmed link to a specific health condition, and anyone with a confirmed variant in the ADAM33 gene should rely on guidance from their doctor or genetic counselor for interpretation.
A variant is not necessarily a diagnosis
Genetic variants are a common and expected feature of human biology across the general population. Most do not directly affect health and simply contribute to natural differences among people. For many genes, having a variant associated with a condition points to a possible link rather than a certain diagnosis, particularly when several genes and environmental influences also play a role. In contrast, there are situations in which one well understood variant in a particular gene is enough to confirm a diagnosis.
Are there things that can increase or change my risk?
Changes in the ADAM33 gene are linked to a higher tendency toward asthma and breathing problems, but they do not decide on their own whether someone will develop them. Risk can also be shaped by other genes and by everyday exposures such as tobacco smoke, air pollution, and allergens like dust mites.
Inheritance of ADAM33 variants
There is not yet a broadly confirmed Mendelian inheritance pattern for ADAM33-related health effects, because changes in the ADAM33 gene have mainly been studied as one factor that may influence traits such as asthma risk rather than as a single-gene cause of a specific inherited condition. In practical terms, ADAM33 gene inheritance does not follow one clearly established autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive pattern for a defined disease. The ADAM33 gene is located on chromosome 20, which is an autosome, so you inherit one copy from each parent.
What does my ADAM33 result mean for my family?
There is not a broadly confirmed inheritance pattern tied to a specific single-gene condition for ADAM33. Changes in ADAM33 have mostly been studied as one of many factors that may influence traits like asthma risk, so a result in this gene usually does not by itself show a clear, predictable meaning for relatives.
Genetic information
Genetic testing
How you find out about variants
To look for variants in the ADAM33 gene, a lab uses a blood or saliva sample and reads the DNA sequence. ADAM33 genetic testing for asthma risk can show whether you carry a known variant, but these results do not diagnose asthma on their own and are not usually part of routine asthma care.
When should I consider getting a genetic test?
There is not yet a broadly established, ADAM33-specific reason to get genetic testing in routine care. Decisions about testing are usually based on your own health and family history and are best discussed with a doctor or genetic counselor.
A genetic result is only one part of your health story
A genetic result can be informative, but how much it reveals depends on the specific condition and the type of variant present. How the body functions over time is also shaped by many factors, including lifestyle, environment, age, and medical history. In some conditions, especially those influenced by many genes, genetic information offers context rather than certainty and is most useful when considered alongside other parts of care. In other situations, a genetic result may give a clear answer. In areas like medication response, genetic results can also help put personal experiences into context.
Pharmacogenetics
How variants shape your response to medicine
Genetic variation can affect how people respond to medicines. Two people taking the same treatment may process it differently, so one may get more benefit while another may notice less effect or be more sensitive to side effects. This is a common part of human biology and helps explain why medication response can vary from person to person.
What is Pharmacogenetics?
Pharmacogenetics examines the ways genetic differences affect how people respond to medications. By looking at relationships between genes and drugs, it helps explain why the same treatment can work differently in different people. For many medicines, genes influence either how powerfully a drug works or how the body handles it. This information can support treatment choices that are more informed and more tailored to the individual. More detail on this topic is available in the LearnHub.
Drugs influenced by the ADAM33 gene
When should I seek medical advice?
There is not yet a broadly confirmed role for this gene in guiding medication choice or dose, so general questions about symptoms, treatment, or side effects are best discussed with your doctor.
History
ADAM33 entered medical genetics in 2002, when researchers reported it as one of the first genes linked to asthma through a genome-wide search for inherited risk. At the time, this drew attention because asthma is influenced by many genes and by the environment, so finding a specific gene linked to susceptibility marked an important step. From these first observations, research expanded steadily, with studies examining whether ADAM33 variants might also relate to airway changes and differences between populations. Results were not always identical from study to study, which is common in complex traits, but ADAM33 remained part of the broader shift toward understanding asthma as a condition shaped by multiple genetic factors. Its discovery helped open the way for later work on the genetics of common inflammatory airway conditions.