title: Joint influences of Acidic-Mammalian-Chitinase with Interleukin-4 and Toll-like receptor-10 with Interleukin-13 in the genetics of asthma.
abstract: In the genetics of asthma, single genetic polymorphisms confer only a small individual risk factor. Haplotype-based association analyses, including joint analyses of several candidate genes, might therefore yield more convincing results than single-region statistics. We set out to test for joint influences of asthma genes previously identified in our study population that is acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase), Toll-like receptor (TLR)-10, and the interleukins IL-4, IL-13, IL-8, and IL-15. In particular, we investigated whether haplotypes at two or three genes show stronger association with the trait than at a single gene alone. We genotyped 26 polymorphisms in 321 asthmatic children and 270 controls. Haplotype-based association analyses were performed by the program FAMHAP. Single-, two-, and three-gene analyses were conducted as well as conditional analyses for pairs of genes. In the two-region analyses, best evidence was found for a joint effect on asthma for AMCase and IL-4 (p(raw) < 5 x 10(-7)) as well as AMCase and IL-13 (p(raw) = 5 x 10(-7)). Besides, IL-13 and TLR-10 showed a stronger two-gene result (p(raw) = 0.001607) than the respective single-gene analyses. Conditional analyses yielded similar results for these two-gene combinations and also revealed mutual additional effects for IL-13 and IL-4 (p(stratified) = 0.014831 and 0.001525, respectively). The most significant results demonstrate a joint effect of AMCase with IL-4 or IL-13 on the trait. Furthermore, additional mutual effects were seen for AMCase and IL-4 as well as for TLR-10 and IL-13. The corresponding pathways might therefore be of particular importance in the genetics of asthma. Further studies are needed to elucidate the functional importance of these gene-gene effects and their precise role in asthma pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. andrea.heinzmann@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinzmann
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brugger
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bierbaum
authors.forename: Beena
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mailaparambil
authors.forename: Matthias V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Strauch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002688:Chitinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D018793:Interleukin-13 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D051201:Toll-Like Receptor 10 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018793:Interleukin-13; C475955:TLR10 protein, human; D051201:Toll-Like Receptor 10; C499254:CHIA protein, human; D002688:Chitinases