The suggestive association of eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3 gene polymorphisms in Korean population with allergic rhinitis.

The eotaxin gene family (eotaxin, eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3) has been implicated in the recruitment of eosinophils, basophiles and Th2 lymphocytes that are central aspects of allergic diseases. To determine whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the eotaxin-2 and eotaxin-3 genes are associated with susceptibility to allergic rhinitis, we scanned 178 allergic rhinitis patients and 281 controls without allergic rhinitis using the direct sequencing and single-base extension (SBE) methods. We also calculated the haplotype frequencies between +179T>C and +275C>T of eotaxin-2 and +2497T>G of eotaxin-3 in both controls and allergic rhinitis patients. The haplotype frequency between controls and allergic rhinitis patients was suggestively associated (P=0.0001). The genotype frequencies of eotaxin-3 +2497T>G in allergic rhinitis patients were suggestively different from those in non-allergic rhinitis controls (P=<0.0007). Our results strongly suggest that the SNP of eotaxin-3 might be associated with susceptibility to allergic rhinitis.