Linkage and allelic association of chromosome 5 cytokine cluster genetic markers with atopy and asthma associated traits

Linkage and association of polymorphic markers in the chromosome 5q31-q33 c ytokine cluster to atopy and asthma associated phenotypes have been reporte d by a number of groups. To investigate this region, 29 polymorphic markers were used to genotype a combined set of 233 families. These markers were o rdered based upon the genetic data, supplemented by published genetic and p hysical maps. Significant two-point linkage was observed for asthma (most s ignificant marker IRF1, P = 0.0002) and atopy (CD14SNP, P = 0.0001). Alleli c association was observed between D5S463 and atopy (P = 0.002) and the ski n prick test index (P = 0.04). The data support the possibility of three as thma/atopy loci in the 5q31-q33 region, each with a relatively small effect . (C) 2001 Academic Press.