Kamali-Sarvestani E, Ghayomi M A, Nekoee A
Department of Immunology, Shiraz Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2007;17(6):361-6.
Both tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL) 4 have been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma. Furthermore, a G/A substitution at position -308 of the TNF-alpha gene promoter and a C/T substitution at position -589 of the IL-4 gene promoter have been associated with increased production of TNF-alpha and IL-4, respectively.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the association between TNF-alpha-308 G/A and IL-4-589 C/T polymorphisms and susceptibility to asthma in a group of patients from southern Iran.
We analyzed the frequency of TNF-alpha -308 G/A and IL-4-589 C/T polymorphisms in a total of 203 asthmatic patients compared to 113 nonasthmatic control subjects.
An association was observed between the TNF-alpha -308 G/A polymorphism and susceptibility to asthma in patients with a ratio between forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity of less than 75% compared with normal subjects; however, the association did not achieve statistical significance (P = .054). The IL-4-589 C/T polymorphism was associated with asthma susceptibility (P = .02). In addition, the association between this polymorphism and asthma severity approached statistical significance (P = .07).
These results provide further evidence for a role of TNF-alpha-308 G/A and IL-4-589 C/T polymorphisms in susceptibility to and severity of asthma. Further studies involving a larger number of patients may help to confirm our observations.
肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素（IL）4均与哮喘的发病机制有关。此外，TNF-α基因启动子-308位的G/A替换和IL-4基因启动子-589位的C/T替换分别与TNF-α和IL-4的产量增加有关。
本研究的目的是分析一组来自伊朗南部的患者中TNF-α -308 G/A和IL-4 -589 C/T多态性与哮喘易感性之间的关联。
我们分析了总共203例哮喘患者与113例非哮喘对照受试者中TNF-α -308 G/A和IL-4 -589 C/T多态性的频率。
在1秒用力呼气量与用力肺活量之比低于75%的患者中，观察到TNF-α -308 G/A多态性与哮喘易感性之间存在关联；然而，该关联未达到统计学显著性（P = 0.054）。IL-4 -589 C/T多态性与哮喘易感性相关（P = 0.02）。此外，该多态性与哮喘严重程度之间的关联接近统计学显著性（P = 0.07）。
这些结果为TNF-α -308 G/A和IL-4 -589 C/T多态性在哮喘易感性和严重程度中的作用提供了进一步的证据。涉及更多患者的进一步研究可能有助于证实我们的观察结果。
