Genetic risk of TNFSF4 and FAM167A-BLK polymorphisms in children with asthma and allergic rhinitis in a Han Chinese population

Abstract

Background: Asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) frequently occur as comorbid diseases of the upper airways. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TNFSF4 and FAM167A-BLK genes have recently been shown to be associated with various immune-related disorders. Objective: Our aim was to determine whether TNFSF4 or FAM167A-BLK polymorphisms confer genetic susceptibility to asthma and AR in a Han Chinese population. Methods: We performed a case–control study of 290 asthmatic children and 252 healthy controls. Nine SNPs in the TNFSF4 region (rs1234313, rs1234314, rs1234315, rsl 2039904, rs844648 and rsl 0912580) and the FAM167A-BLK region (rs2254546, rs13277113 and rs1600249) were detected using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. Results: This study revealed that three SNPs in TNFSF4 (rsl 234313, rsl 234314 and rsl 234315) and two SNPs in FAM167A-BLK (rs2254546 and rsl 600249) were significantly correlated with asthma and AR, while SNP rsl600249 was associated with asthma without allergic rhinitis as a risk factor. Further, we demonstrated synergistic effects between the TNFSF4 and FAM167A-BLK SNPs. Conclusion: This study supports that the SNPs in TNFSF4 and FAM167A-BLK may be involved in asthma and AR gene risk in the Han Chinese cohort.

Keywords:

• Allergic rhinitis
• asthma
• FAM167A-BLK
• polymorphisms
• TNFSF4

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all donors enrolled in this study. This study was performed in Chongqing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Chongqing Eye Institute, Chongqing, People's Republic of China. Ethical standard: This study was conducted with the approval of the Ethical Committee of Chongqing Medical University.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81271061) and National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Science Fund (No. 81300811), China. We greatly appreciate Sheng-Ping Hou, Hong-Song Yu, Gang-xiang Yuan, Qing-feng Cao (Chongqing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology of Chongqing Medical University) for their excellent technical support for PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.