MUTATION ANALYSIS OF INTERLEUKIN-5 IN AN ASTHMATIC COHORT

Interleukin-5 (IL-5) is a potential candidate gene in the pathogenesis of asthma, as it is the main cytokine controlling eosinophil activity and eosinophils are pivotal in the development of airway inflammation . Mutation detection studies were performed on the IL-5 gene and the a lpha-chain of its receptor in 30 asthmatic and 30 nonasthmatic subject s, Single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) and heteroduplex a nalysis (HA) did not reveal any change from tile reported normal seque nce in all 4 exons of IL-5 as well as the promoter and 3'-untranslated regions of the gene. No SSCP variations were seen within the complete coding sequence of the IL-5 receptor alpha-chain. Mutations of the IL -5 gene coding region, its promoter and receptor are unlikely to be co mmon causes of an inherited predisposition to asthma. (C) 1998 Wiley-L iss, Inc.