Signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (Stat6) variants in childhood and adult asthma

• Published in: Allergology international 2004, Vol.53 (3), p.241-244
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Michiko, Arakawa, Hirokazu, Kobayashi, Yasuko, Tamura, Kazushi, Mochizuki, Hiroyuki, Tokuyama, Kenichi, Tamari, Mayumi, Mao, X.-Q., Shirakawa, Taro, Izuhara, Kenji, Morikawa, Akihiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: atopy; dinucleotide repeat polymorphism; interleukin-13; interleukin-4; signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (Stat6)
• ISSN: 1323-8930; 1440-1592
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1592.2004.00340.x

Signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (Stat6) is a key transcription factor involved in interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-1 3-mediated biological responses. Recently, we reported the association between the dinucleotide (GT) repeat polymorphism in the first exon of Stat6 and allergic subjects in a Japanese population. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether this GT repeat polymorphism is associated with bronchial asthma, including childhood asthma and atopic and non-atopic adult asthma. Stat6 gene polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragment length polymorphism analysis. In the first exon of Stat6, polymorphic PCR products were classified into six alleles (12–17 GT repeats). A significant difference was found in the genotypic frequency of the GT repeat polymorphism between controls and child asthmatics (P = 0.015), but not atopic or non-atopic adult asthma. The frequency of the 15 repeat allele (wild type) was lower in child asthmatics than in controls (P = 0.0047; odds ratio (OR) 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-2.23), whereas shorter repeat alleles (12, 13 and 14 GT repeat) were higher in child asthmatics than in controls (P = 0.0064; OR (95%CI) 1.66 (1.15-2.39)). Genetic variations in the Stat6 gene may be associated with a predisposition for childhood asthma.