Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2007 Sep;17(3):226-233.

Transforming Growth Factor-beta1 Promoter Polymorphism in Childhood Asthma

• Park JY
• Song TW
• Kim KW
• Kim ES
• Sohn MH
• Kim KE

Abstract

PURPOSE: The -509C/T polymorphism of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 gene has been associated with asthma and atopy. We evaluate whether TGF-beta1 promoter polymorphism (-509C/T) is associated with the asthma phenotype and the development of atopy in Korean children.
METHODS
We enrolled 278 patients with atopic asthma, 54 non-atopic asthma and 248 healthy children. They underwent through pulmonary function tests and methacholine challenge tests with their eosinophil counts of blood, total serum IgE levels and serum eosinophil cationic protein levels. TGF-beta1 promoter polymorphism was genotyped using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays.
RESULTS
No significant difference was observed in allele and genotype frequencies of TGF-beta1 -509C/T polymorphism between the patients with atopic asthma or non-atopic asthma and control subjects. Any pulmonary function or atopic variables were not associated with this polymorphism. Furthermore, we showed that -509C/T polymorphism was not associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that the -509C/T polymorphism of the TGF-beta1 promoter gene may not be associated with bronchial asthma or atopic variables in Korean children.

Keyword

Asthma; Transforming growth factor-beta1; Promoter; Polymorphism

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Asthma*
Child
Eosinophil Cationic Protein
Eosinophils
Genotype
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Methacholine Chloride
Phenotype
Respiratory Function Tests
Transforming Growth Factor beta1
Transforming Growth Factors
Eosinophil Cationic Protein
Immunoglobulin E
Methacholine Chloride
Transforming Growth Factor beta1
Transforming Growth Factors