Association of STAT6 and ADAM33 single nucleotide polymorphisms with asthma bronchiale and IgE level and its possible epigenetic background.
BACKGROUND
ADAM33 and STAT6 belong to the candidate genes that have been commonly associated with asthma, bronchial hyperresponsiveness or IgE levels. Our objective was to assess the association of 11 SNPs of the ADAM33 and 6 of the STAT6 and their haplotypes with IgE levels and asthma. We also evaluated the possible role of parental origin of haplotypes on IgE levels.


METHODS
We enrolled 109 children with asthma and 45 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed by TaqMan probes and confirmed by sequencing. Haplotype construction was based on the knowledge of parental genotypes and also inferred by using the EM algorithm and Bayes' theorem.


RESULTS
None of the SNPs were associated with elevated IgE level or asthma. We found that the most frequent STAT6 haplotype ATTCAA (built from rs324012, rs324011, rs841718, rs3024974, rs3024974, rs4559 SNPs, respectively) was associated with elevated total IgE levels (P=0.01) and this haplotype was predominantly transmitted paternally (P<0.001). We compared our results with those of studies performed on German and Australian Caucasian populations and found that rs324011, rs3024974 and rs4559 SNPs in STAT6 should have a major effect on IgE levels. Therefore, we suggest the TCA haplotype alone (built from rs324011, rs3024974 and rs4559 SNPs, respectively) in STAT6 is associated with total IgE elevation.


CONCLUSIONS
The influence of paternal origin of the STAT6 haplotype on IgE levels is surprising but the exact role of possible paternal imprinting in STAT6 regulation should be investigated and confirmed in future studies.
Department of Medical Genetics and Fetal Medicine, University Hospital Olomouc and Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic. GodavaM@seznam.cz
Marek
M
Godava
Frantisek
F
Kopriva
Jana
J
Bohmova
Radek
R
Vodicka
Ladislav
L
Dusek
Michaela
M
Cvanova
Jan
J
Muzik
Marie
M
Markova
Eva
E
Schneiderova
Radek
R
Vrtel
D051722:ADAM Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057890:Epigenomics; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D050800:STAT6 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
D050800:STAT6 Transcription Factor; C494101:STAT6 protein, human; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D051722:ADAM Proteins; C450441:ADAM33 protein, human