Polymorphism of egfr Intron1 is Associated with Susceptibility and Severity of Asthma

Abstract

To clarify the associations of the egfr CA repeat polymorphism with asthma and its severity, we examined 579 Japanese asthmatics and 232 control subjects. The number of CA repeat ranges from 9 to 24. Asthmatic patients had a significantly higher incidence of having shorter alleles (≦16 CA repeats) compared with control subjects (p < 0.05). The most severe asthmatic patients have the highest frequency of short alleles (p < 0.05). In addition, subjects treated with leukotriene modifiers had higher incidence of having shorter allele compared to those without it (p < 0.01). Thus, the egfr CA repeat polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility and the severity of asthma.

Keywords:

• asthma
• case-control study
• epidermal growth factor receptor
• polymorphism
• severity