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Immunoglobulin (Ig) E has been shown to be a major contributing factor for the development of bronchial hyperresponsiveness in asthma. An elevation in serum IgE levels contributes to asthma and is considered a potent predictor of the development of asthma. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the levels of total serum IgE in asthmatic and healthy control subjects and to investigate the relationship of various demographic and clinical characteristics with the total serum IgE level in asthmatics. We measured the levels of total serum IgE using the ELISA kits (AccuBind, Monobind Inc., USA). The relevant demographic and clinical data were obtained using the questionnaire. The results showed that asthmatic children had significantly elevated level of total serum IgE compared to that of the healthy controls. The levels of total IgE and IL-4 in sera of 44 asthmatic children showed a significant positive correlation. Total serum IgE [150 IU/ mL was found to be significantly associated with the age, exposure to cigarette smoke, and raised eosinophil count in asthmatic children. In conclusion, the elevated level of total serum IgE may demonstrate the allergic etiology of asthma in the subjects studied.

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Asthma is a heterogeneous disease for which a strong genetic basis is firmly established. It is a complex disorder influenced by gene-environment interaction. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes have been shown to be consistently associated with asthma and its related phenotypes in various populations. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of the selected HLA classes I and II allelic groups in asthmatic and control groups. HLA typing was performed using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific typing (PCR-SSP) method. The allele frequency was estimated by direct counting. Frequency of each HLA allelic group was compared between asthmatic group and control group using χ(2) test. P-value was corrected by multiplying with the number of the allelic groups studied. Odds ratio (OR) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for each allelic group were calculated using graphpad instat 3.10. The results of this study showed a significantly higher frequency of HLA-DRB1*03 in asthmatics than in controls (11.43% vs 3.64%, OR = 3.78, 95% CI = 1.61-8.85, P = 0.0025, Pcorr < 0.05). Analysis of HLA alleles in low and high total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) level in asthmatics revealed no significant association. HLA-DRB1*03 may be implicated in the susceptibility to asthma in the pediatric population.