Polymorphic Variants of Interleukin-13 R130Q and Interleukin-4 T589C in Children with and without Cow’s Milk Allergy

Abstract

Cow’s milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most frequent types of food allergy. The aim of the study was to investigate whether IL-13 R130Q and IL-4 T589C polymorphisms are associated with the risk of CMA in young Ukrainian children. A total of 120 children (age range: 1–3 years) participated in the study and were divided into two groups: CMA (n = 60) and healthy controls (CNT, n = 60). The CMA group had two subgroups: specific oral tolerance induction (SOTI, n = 30) and milk elimination diet (MED, n = 30). The CNT group had two subgroups: positive family history of allergy (+FHA, n = 24) and negative family history of allergy (−FHA, n = 36). In the CMA group, molecular genetic testing of CC, CT, and TT genotypes of single nucleotide IL-4 T589C gene polymorphisms showed significantly higher rates of the CC genotype compared to healthy controls (92.2% vs. 58.8%; p < 0.01). In the CMA group, molecular genetic testing of GG, GA, and AA genotypes of single nucleotide IL-13 R130Q gene polymorphisms showed significantly higher rates of GA and AA polymorphic locus genotypes compared to healthy controls (43.5% vs. 22.4%, p < 0.05 and 8.7% vs. 0%, p < 0.05, respectively). In future studies, the genotypic and allelic distribution of these polymorphic variants will be determined in children with CMA and healthy children.

Multiple sclerosis susceptibility may be associated with the coding rs20541 (R130Q) IL-13 gene polymorphism in the Polish population

“…Some of them (C-1112T, A-1512C) may influence the level of cytokine expression, whereas some (G+2044A) may have an impact on the affinity of IL-13 for its receptor 12 , 13 . Some SNPs (including rs20541 G+2044A (R130Q)) in the IL-13 gene have been associated with chronic inflammatory and autoimmunological diseases, such as elderly associated chronic inflammatory diseases 14 , asthma 15 , autoimmune thyroid disease 16 , idiopathic nephrotic syndrome 17 , and food allergies 18 .…”