Background: Research increasingly suggests that asthma is a familial and hereditary disorder in the pathogenesis of which genetic and environmental factors play an important role.
Objective: To investigate the single and combined associations between 8 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci in 5 genes and the development of asthma in children of Chinese Han nationality.
Methods: The study population comprised 192 children with asthma and an equal number of healthy controls. Asthma was diagnosed in accordance with American Thoracic Society criteria. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to detect the genotypes of the SNP loci.
Results: No statistically significant differences (P>.05) were found between the experimental and control group in genotype distribution among 6 loci (IL-13 C- 1112T, IL-13 C1923T, IL-4 C-590T, IL-4RA 175V, FcepsilonR1beta E237G, and beta2-ADR Q27E). However, significant diversity was observed among FcepsilonR1beta C-109T (P=.002) and beta2-ADR R16G (P=.000). Furthermore, the frequency of FcepsilonR1beta C-109T T/T and beta2-ADR R16G A/A in the asthma group was significantly higher than in the control group (odds ratio [OR]=1.96, P=.001; OR=2.58, P=.000, respectively). Carriers of both FcepsilonR1beta C-109T T/T and beta2-ADR R16G A/A had a more significant risk of developing asthma than those with only a single polymorphism.
Conclusion: The 6 loci (IL-13 C-1112T, IL-13 C1923T, IL-4 C-590T, IL-4RA 175V, FcER1B E237G and 12-ADR Q27E) make little contribution to the development of asthma in children of Chinese Han nationality. FcepsilonR1beta C-109T and beta2-ADR R16G are significantly associated with childhood asthma. FcepsilonR1beta C-109T T/T and beta2-ADR R16G A/A have a significant and combined effect on the development of asthma.