Evaluation of the Frequency of Gene Polymorphism of Interleukin-7 Receptor Subunit Alpha (IL7R-α) in Atopic Patients and Healthy Controls

Atopy and/or allergy are in the same meaning. Patients with allergy are individuals who have positive family history and the number of eosinophil in their blood test and immunoglobulin E (IgE) level in their skin test are high against allergen, which is demonstrated by allergic rhinitis, eczema, asthma and urticaria. Many genetic factors are involved in disease onset one of which is interleukin-7 receptor subunit alpha (IL7R-α). In this study we aimed to evaluate the frequency of this polymorphism in two groups of case and control.
101 patients with allergy and 201 controls were selected. After DNA extraction, different genotypes of C/T polymorphisms were studied using high-resolution melt real-time polymerase chain reaction (HRM real-time PCR) technique.
Findings: There was a significant association between the frequency of this gene polymorphism and atopy. In fact, individuals with TT genotype were approximately 4 times more at a risk of this disease.
The frequency of this polymorphism with same results was also studied in both Germany and India, which shows that this polymorphism is significantly associated with allergy. Studies have also shown that IL-7 plays a pivotal role not only in eosinophil survival and operation but also in immune system homeostasis.