Variation in the Interleukin 4–Receptor α Gene Confers Susceptibility to Asthma and Atopy in Ethnically Diverse Populations

• Published in: American journal of human genetics Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 517 - 526
• Main Authors: Ober, Carole, Leavitt, Stephanie A., Tsalenko, Anya, Howard, Timothy D., Hoki, Danessa M., Daniel, Rajeev, Newman, Dina L., Wu, Xiaodong, Parry, Rodney, Lester, Lucille A., Solway, Julian, Blumenthal, Malcolm, King, Richard A., Xu, Jianfeng, Meyers, Deborah A., Bleecker, Eugene R., Cox, Nancy J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.2000; American Society of Human Genetics|1
• Subjects: Alleles; asthma; Asthma - genetics; atopy; Child; Christianity; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16 - genetics; complex traits; DNA Mutational Analysis; Ethnicity - genetics; Family Health; Female; Gene Frequency - genetics; Genetic Predisposition to Disease - genetics; Genetic Variation - genetics; Haplotypes - genetics; Humans; Hypersensitivity, Immediate - genetics; linkage disequilibrium; Linkage Disequilibrium - genetics; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Receptors, Interleukin-4 - genetics; SNPs; United States; United States; atopy; SNPs; complex traits; asthma; linkage disequilibrium
• ISSN: 0002-9297; 1537-6605
• DOI: 10.1086/302781

After a genomewide screen in the Hutterites was completed, the IL4RA gene was examined as the 16p-linked susceptibility locus for asthma and atopy. Seven known variants and one novel variant, representing all nonsynonymous substitutions in the mature protein, were examined in the Hutterites; on the basis of studies in the Hutterites, outbred white, black, and Hispanic families were genotyped for selected markers. All population samples showed evidence of association to atopy or to asthma ( P values .039–.0044 for atopy and .029–.0000061 for asthma), but the alleles or haplotypes showing the strongest evidence differed between the groups. Overall, these data suggest that the IL4RA gene is an atopy- and asthma-susceptibility locus but that variation outside the coding region of the gene influences susceptibility.