title: Val66Met polymorphism in the BDNF gene in children with bronchial asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bronchial asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by airway inflammation. There is increasing evidence that neurotrophins play an important role in the development and maintenance of neurogenic airway inflammation in chronic allergic diseases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin family and has several important functions in the airways. There are only a few reports on the association between genetic variations in the BDNF gene and various allergic diseases, and the results are generally conflicting. Therefore, we aimed to study the functional polymorphism Val66Met (also called rs6265 or G196A) in the BDNF gene in a group of asthmatic children and healthy controls.
  We studied 248 asthmatic patients (aged 12.28 ± 0.24 years) and 249 healthy children (aged 13.14 ± 0.48 years). Analysis of the Val66Met polymorphism of the BDNF gene was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR products were digested by PmlI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of the Val66Met polymorphisms (Val/Val, Val/Met, and Met/Met) was 61.7%, 33.5%, and 4.8% in asthmatics, respectively, and 47.0%, 51.8%, and 1.2% in healthy subjects, respectively. We observed a significant association of the Met/Met variant genotype with asthmatics (OR = 4.17, 95% CI = 1.16-14.96, P = 0.018). The Val/Met genotype was protective against bronchial asthma (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.48-0.99, P = 0.045), especially in girls (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.20-0.59, P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Specific BDNF gene polymorphism may contribute to bronchial asthma susceptibility. Our study suggested the positive association between selected functional BDNF polymorphism (rs6265) and asthma in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Milos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jesenak
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Babusikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Evinova
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Banovcin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobrota
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C579455:BDNF protein, human
keywords: brain-derived neurotrophic factor; bronchial asthma; children; gene polymorphism; neurogenic inflammation; neurotrophins