Investigation of the relationship between interleukin-4 promoter polymorphism and severity of patients with bronchial asthma

Yong Kang Sea Yong Kang, Jeong Shim Jae Jeong Shim, Yun Cho Jae Yun Cho, Hwan Kwon Young Hwan Kwon, Yong Lee Seung Yong Lee, Hyeong Kim Je Hyeong Kim, Youb Lee Sang Youb Lee, Ra Lee So Ra Lee, Ae Han Seon Ae Han, Gyum Kim Han Gyum Kim, Ho Kang Kyung Ho Kang, Hwa Yoo Se Hwa Yoo, Ho In Kwang Ho In

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Interleukin-4 plays an important role in pathogenesis of asthma, especially in developing atopy by means of switching B lymphocytes to produce IgE. It has been shown that there is polymorphism in the Interleukin- 4 promoter region, transversion of cytosine to thymine at -598 from translation initiation site of IL-4 gene. There has also been quite a few works to reveal the role of the polymorphism of IL-4 gene in patients with asthma. We performed this investigation to determine the role of the polymorphism in the severity of symptoms of patients with asthma. We also examined the frequency and the type of the polymorphism in asthmatics compared with non-asthmatics as well. Method: The subjects enrolled in this study were 49 asthmatics and 33 non-asthmatics. All the asthmatics were classified as mild and moderate to severe by the NHLBI/WHO Workshop. DNA from beth asthmatics and non-asthmatics was extracted, then performed ARMS(Amplification Refractory Mutation System) as well as RFLP using BsmFl restriction enzyme in order to confirm the polymorphism of IL-4 gene. Results: There was no significant difference in the occurrence of polymorphism of the IL-4 promoter sequence between asthma and non-asthma groups (P=0.7). Among these with polymorphisms, the number of C/C type was slightly more than C/T type in beth asthmatics and non-asthmatics, 26 vs 21 in asthmatics and 18 vs 15 in non-asthmatics, which was, however, insignificant statistically. No significant relationship between the severity of asthma and the polymorphism was found (P = 0.7). Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the severity of asthma and the IL-4 promoter polymorphism(P=0.709). Interestingly, the frequency of the polymorphism in both asthmatics as well as non-asthmatics was found to be even higher than that occurred in Caucasians. However, no significant difference in the frequency of the polymorphism was found in both groups.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)529-535
Number of pages7
JournalTuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
Volume45
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Asthma
  • Interleukin-4
  • Polymorphism
  • Promoter

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
  • Infectious Diseases

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigation of the relationship between interleukin-4 promoter polymorphism and severity of patients with bronchial asthma'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this