title: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is associated with the -1055 IL-13 promoter polymorphism.
abstract: IL-13 is strongly implicated in the development of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We previously identified an IL-13 promoter polymorphism (-1055 C to T) that is associated with allergic asthma. We now report an increased frequency of the -1055 T allele in COPD patients compared to healthy controls (P=0.002) and compared to a second control group consisting of smoking individuals with normal lung function (P=0.01). A closely linked IL-13 exon polymorphism is present at normal allelic frequencies (P=0.3 and 0.4, respectively). In addition, we observed a normal distribution of two IL-4 polymorphisms at positions -590 and +33 (P=0.2 and 0.9, respectively). These results could implicate a functional role for the IL-13 promoter polymorphism in the enhanced risk to develop COPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. t.van_der_pouw_kraan.cell@med.vu.nl
authors.forename: T C T M
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: van der Pouw Kraan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Küçükaycan
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.forename: J M C
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Baggen
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: van der Zee
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dentener
authors.forename: E F M
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Wouters
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Verweij
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D018793:Interleukin-13 / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018793:Interleukin-13; D007073:Immunoglobulin E