Polymorphisms of IL-13 and IL-4-IL-13-SNPs in patients with penicillin allergies

Although IL-4 and IL-13 share many biologic activities, some are unique to IL-13. We genotype the IL-13 and IL-4-IL-13-SNPs genes for polymorphisms that could then be used to determine associations with IgE regulation as well as levels of IL-4 and IL-13.

Eight kinds of IgE specific to penicillins were determined with radioallergosorbent test (RAST) in the sera of 158 patients with penicillin allergies and 89 healthy subjects. Serum levels of IL-4 and IL-13 were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The genotyping of IL-13Arg130Gln, IL-4-IL-13-SNP3 and IL-4-IL13-SNP4 was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique.

Among patients with positive specific IgE, significant differences between the IL-4-IL-13-SNP3 and IL-4-IL-13-SNP4 genotypes were observed between patients with positive BPA and the control group (P<0.05, P<0.05). Additionally, we also found significant differences in the IL-4-IL-13-SNP4 genotype between positive and negative BPA-IgE patients (P<0.05). However, we found no significant differences in the prevalence of these polymorphisms between any of the symptomatic groups studied and the control group. Nor were there any significant differences between levels of IL-4 and IL-13 and any of genotypes.

The data suggest that IL-4-IL-13-SNP genes between IL-4 and IL-13 play a role in regulation of specific IgE levels in patients with penicillin allergies.