Abstract
BACKGROUND: Interleukin 13 (IL13) is directly involved in the secretion of total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), which plays a major role in the asthma pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: One of the polymorphic receptor of IL13 is IL13Rα1, which after binding to IL13, initiates signal transduction that results in mucin secretion, airway hyperreactivity, fibrosis, and chitinase up-regulation, which increases asthma risk. METHODS: In the present study, the role of IL13Rα1 +1398A/G gene polymorphisms in asthma was detected with a total of 964 individuals, including 483 healthy controls and 481 asthma patients from a North Indian population using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. RESULTS: Statistical analysis revealed that the mutant allele (G) is predominant in asthma patients (42.7%) than the controls (38.2%), which shows an increased risk toward asthma with odds ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (1.00-1.45), χ(2) = 4.10 and p = 0.043. Furthermore, the phenotypic characteristics also reveal a significant association with the disease (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study conducted in India and +1398A/G polymorphism in noncoding region of IL13Rα1 confer risk toward asthma in the studied population.