Korean J Asthma Allergy Clin Immunol.  2008 Mar;28(1):45-52.

An Interaction Model of IL-4 and IFN-gamma Gene SNPs in Relation to Atopy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a common complex genetic disease. While the T-helper cell 1 pathway is determined by cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), the T-helper cell 2 pathway is determined by IL-4. These comprise two alternative CD4+ T-cell fates with functional consequences for the host immune system. We investigated the effect of interaction between and IL-4 SNPs on asthma or atopy. METHOD: Three hundred asthmatics and 300 unrelated normal controls were enrolled. Two candidate SNPs of the IFN-gamma gene and two SNPs of the IL-4 gene were selected. Gene-gene interactions were tested using the multi-factor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method and interaction information analysis on the basis of Shannon entropy. RESULT: In MDR analysis, a combination of IFN-gamma+2459A>G and IL-4-589C>T was the best model to predict atopy. In interaction information analysis, there was a strong effect of interaction between theses two SNPs on atopy. This combination showed a stronger effect than each SNP alone. In addition, IL-4-589C>T showed a strong effect on atopy with IFN-gamma+2671C>T and with IFN-gamma+2459A>G. Theses effects were prominent in normal controls.
CONCLUSION
From the findings of a statistical interaction model, it is suggested that IFN-gamma and IL-4 gene SNPs may contributes to the development of atopy by interacting with each other.

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Immune System
Interferon-gamma
Interleukin-4
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
T-Lymphocytes
Interferon-gamma
Interleukin-4