Modifier Factors of Cystic Fibrosis Phenotypes: A Focus on Modifier Genes

Although cystic fibrosis (CF) is recognized as a monogenic disease, due to variants within the ( ) gene, an extreme clinical heterogeneity is described among people with CF (pwCF). Apart from the exocrine pancreatic status, most studies agree that there is little association between variants and disease phenotypes. Environmental factors have been shown to contribute to this heterogeneity, accounting for almost 50% of the variability of the lung function of pwCF. Nevertheless, pwCF with similar variants and sharing the same environment (such as in siblings) may have highly variable clinical manifestations not explained by variants, and only partly explained by environmental factors. It is recognized that genetic variants located outside the locus, named "modifier genes", influence the clinical expression of the disease. This short review discusses the latest studies that have described modifier factors associated with the various CF phenotypes as well as the response to the recent CFTR modulator therapies.