Polymorphisms in IL-4 and IL-4R genes in children with allergic asthma

AIM: To determine whether interleukin 4 and interleukin 4 receptor α chain are associated with allergic asthma in children and to study the impact of such polymorphism upon plasma IgE.METHODS: Two polymorphism sites of IL-4 and IL-4R were studied by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).RESULTS: (1)The results showed that the IL-4 promoter -589 was not associated with children allergic asthma, however, the IL-4R α chain 576RR genotype and R allele were significantly increased in the subjects with asthma in children compared with age-matched control subjects (χ2=11.84, P＜0.01; χ2=13.03, P＜0.01). The IL-4R α chain 576RR genotype was associated with higher plasma IgE. CONCLUSION: These date suggest that the IL-4R α chain R576 is a risk factor of allergic asthma in children in Chinese, and is also related with higher plasma IgE level.