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MYLK polymorphism associated with blood eosinophil level among asthmatic patients in a Korean population

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Molecules and Cells

Abstract

The myosin light chain kinase (MYLK) gene encodes both smooth muscle and nonmuscle cell isoforms. Recently, polymorphisms in MYLK have been reported to be associated with several diseases. To examine the genetic effects of polymorphisms on the risk of asthma and related phenotypes, we scrutinized MYLK by re-sequencing/genoty** and statistical analysis in Korean population (n = 1,015). Seventeen common polymorphisms located in or near exons, having pairwise r 2 values less than 0.25, were genotyped. Our statistical analysis did not replicate the associations with the risk of asthma and log-transformed total IgE levels observed among African descendant populations. However, two SNPs in intron 16 (+89872C > G and +92263T >C), which were in tight LD (|D′| = 0.99), revealed significant association with log-transformed blood eosinophil level even after correction multiple testing (P = 0.002/Pcorr= 0.01 and P = 0.002/Pcorr = 0.01, respectively). The log-transformed blood eosinophil levels were higher in individuals bearing the minor alleles for +89872C > G and +92263T > C, than in those bearing other allele. In additional subgroup analysis, the genetic effects of both SNPs were much more apparent among asthmatic patients and atopic asthma patients. Among atopic asthma patients, the log-transformed blood eosinophil levels were proportionally increased by gene-dose dependent manner of in both +89872C > G and +92263T > C (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.00007, respectively). These findings suggest that MYLK polymorphisms might be among the genetic factors underlying differential increases of blood eosinophil levels among asthmatic patients. Further biological and/or functional studies are needed to confirm our results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetic Epidemiology, SNP Genetics, Inc., Seoul, 153-803, Korea

    Soo Ok Lee, Hyun Sub Cheong, Byung Lae Park & Hyoung Doo Shin

  2. Department of Life Science, Sogang University, Seoul, 121-742, Korea

    Joon Seol Bae, Won Chul Sim, Ji-Yong Chun, Mohammad Isbat & Hyoung Doo Shin

  3. Asthma Genome Research Group (Soonchunhyang University Bucheon, Seoul, and Chunan Hospitals), Genome Research Center for Allergy and Respiratory Diseases, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Buchon, 420-767, Korea

    Soo-Taek Uh, Yong Hooun Kim, An-Soo Jang & Choon-Sik Park

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  1. Soo Ok Lee
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Correspondence to Choon-Sik Park or Hyoung Doo Shin.

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Lee, S.O., Cheong, H.S., Park, B.L. et al. MYLK polymorphism associated with blood eosinophil level among asthmatic patients in a Korean population. Mol Cells 27, 175–181 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-009-0022-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-009-0022-2

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