ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-4 gene -590C/T as well as IL-13 gene -1112C/T and the incidence of asthma in children.To address whether the SNPs of two loci have any impact on total serum IgE( TIgE) levels.Methods Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique( PCR-RFLP) was used to determine the two locus polymorphisms of 250 patients with asthma and 200 healthy subjects in control group.The level of TIgE was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) in two groups.Results (1)The genotype distribu-tion in each locus was different in two groups(P0.05), which was in contrast with that at IL-4 -590 locus in asthma group(P<0.05).Conclusion The SNPs of two loci were associated with childhood asthma.Variant al-lele T at 590C/T locus in IL-4 gene correlated with higher serum IgE levels.There was no significant correlation between the serum IgE levels and variant T allele at IL-13 -1112C/T locus.