Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2005 Jan;48(1):61-64.

A Study of Susceptibility between Allergic Rhinitis and IL-13 Exon 4 G2044A Gene Polymorphism Study in Korean

• Lee JH
• Choi TW
• Lee JH
• Choi SH
• Kim MS
• Min JY
• Kim JJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
High total serum IgE level is one of the characteristics seen in allergic rhinitis. IL-13 provides impetus to immunoglobulin class switching to IgE. The IL-13 promoter single nucleotide polymorphism has been shown to be associated with allergic diseases and abnormal IL-13 production. We tested whether a polymorphism in the coding region of IL-13 gene is associated with allergic rhinitis, blood eosinophil counts and total serum IgE levels in Korean. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Blood samples for genetic analysis were obtained from 307 individuals with allergic rhinitis and from 268 healthy subjects without atopic diseases. Polymerase chain reaction-based assay for IL-13 exon 4 G2044A was used for genotyping. Serum total IgE levels were determined by using the immunoassay. Eosinophil values were determined by eosinophil numbers per total cell numbers per microl. RESULTS: There were no differences in the frequencies of the genotypes of IL-13 in the controls and patients (p>0.05). The frequencies of the IL-13 exon 4 2044A allele were statistically different between controls and patients (p<0.05). Blood eosinophil count and total serum IgE levels were not statistically different in the genotypes of IL-13 exon 4 G2044A in allergic rhinitis (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Our result suggests that the IL-13 exon 4 G2044A polymorphism might give susceptibility to the development of allergic rhinitis in Koreans.

Keyword

IL-13; Rhinitis allergic; Korean; Polymorphism

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Cell Count
Clinical Coding
Eosinophils
Exons*
Genotype
Humans
Immunoassay
Immunoglobulin Class Switching
Immunoglobulin E
Interleukin-13*
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Rhinitis*
Immunoglobulin E
Interleukin-13