Association between CD14 gene promoter polymorphisms with serum total-IgE and eosinophil levels in atopic and non-atopic asthma patients in a Chinese Han population.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between CD14 gene promoter SNPs with serum total-IgE and eosinophil levels in atopic asthma and non-atopic asthma in Chinese Han. METHODS: A total of 152 patients with asthma were divided into atopic asthma (n = 100) and non-atopic asthma (n = 52) groups for this study. Six CD14 gene SNPs were analyzed using PCR and gene sequencing. Serum total-IgE and eosinophil levels were measured. The association between genotype frequencies of the CD14 gene loci with total-IgE and eosinophil levels in atopic asthma and non-atopic asthma was evaluated by the ANOVA test method. Hundred and sixteen healthy subjects constitute the control group. RESULTS: We found that serum total-IgE and eosinophil levels were significantly higher in individuals with atopic asthma when compared to individuals with non-atopic asthma (p < 0.01). For non-atopic asthma, the total-IgE levels of the heterozygous genotypes were significantly higher than the corresponding levels for the homozygous genotypes in CD14-260C > T, CD-651C > T, CD-911A > C and CD-1247A > G (p < 0.01). In atopic asthma, there was no statistical significance for either serum total-IgE or eosinophil levels among the genotypes of the CD14 gene SNPs. In addition, allele A frequency of CD14-1247A > G was significantly different between the atopic asthma and non-atopic asthma groups (p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: There was a statistical association between the serum total-IgE level and the CD14 gene promoter SNPs in the non-atopic asthma group. The eosinophil level was not found to be statistically associated with the CD14 gene promoter SNPs in either the atopic asthma or non-atopic asthma groups.