Correlation of SOCS3 gene polymorphism with childhood asthma

Abstract

Objective: To explore the correlation of the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) gene polymorphism with childhood asthma.

Patients and methods: A total of 204 asthma children (observation group) and 235 healthy children (control group) were enrolled. General clinical information of enrolled subjects was collected. Inflammatory factors and pulmonary function test indexes in each subject were examined. Moreover, the polymorphism of SOCS3 gene rs9914220 was detected with the TaqMan-MGB probe.

Results: Asthma children in the observation group exhibited higher levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-17, and IL-33 than those of the control group (p<0.05). The forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio (%), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and FVC in the observation group were lower than those in the control group. However, the residual volume (RV), and RV/total lung capacity (TLC) ratio were higher in observation group than those in control group (p<0.05). Distribution frequency of the genotypes varied a lot between the two groups (p<0.05). However, we did not observe a significant difference in SOCS3 alleles between the two groups (p>0.05). According to the analysis of the genetic model, there were differences in dominant and cumulative models between the two groups (p<0.05), whereas the recessive model was not different between the two groups (p>0.05).

Conclusions: Levels of inflammatory factors and pulmonary functions help to effectively monitor the progression of childhood asthma, thus increasing the clinical diagnosis rate. The polymorphism of the SOCS3 gene rs9914220 site is correlated with the onset of childhood asthma.