Korean J Pathol.  2012 Apr;46(2):162-168.

Identifying Polymorphisms in IL-31 and Their Association with Susceptibility to Asthma

• Yu JI
• Han WC
• Yun KJ
• Moon HB
• Oh GJ
• Chae SC

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Interleukin 31 (IL-31) is a T helper type 2 effector cytokine that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atopic and allergic diseases. IL-31 may be involved in promoting allergic inflammation and in inducing airway epithelial responses such as allergic asthma.
METHODS
Single-base extension analysis was used to detect the genotypes of IL-31 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and we compared the genotype and allele frequencies of the IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies of the IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls. Furthermore we compared the genotype and allele frequencies of IL-31 SNPs between patients with atopic asthma, those with non-atopic asthma and healthy controls. This showed that the SNPs were not associated with the susceptibility to atopic asthma. There were no significant differences in the haplotype frequencies of IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls. In patients with asthma, the IL-31 SNPs were significantly correlated with total serum levels of IgE (p=0.035).
CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that, the IL-31 SNPs may be associated with IgE production in patients with asthma.

Keyword

IL-31; Haplotypes; Polymorphism; Asthma; Immunoglobulin E

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Gene Frequency
Genotype
Haplotypes
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Inflammation
Interleukins
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Immunoglobulin E
Interleukins