Polymorphisms of STAT6 and specific serum IgE levels in patients with penicillin allergy

Abstract

Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 6 signaling pathway is required for mediating the biologic functions of interleukin (IL)-4 which is proved to play an important role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases and the induction of specific immunoglobulin (Ig) E synthesis. The current studies are conducted to evaluate the relationship between polymorphisms of STAT6, specific IgE and penicillin allergy. In 242 patients with penicillin allergy and 220 controls, polymorphisms of STAT6 in2SNP3 and 3'UTRSNP3 were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Eight kinds of specific IgE to penicillins were detected with radioallergosorbent test (RAST). For STAT6 in2SNP3, the frequency of the CC genotype was significantly higher in all patients than in controls (60 vs. 47%, p = 0.005). A similar result was observed between patients of the urticaria group and controls (70 vs. 47%, p = 0.005). With respect to allele frequency, the C-allele occurred more frequently in all patients and in the urticaria group than in controls (78 vs. 69%, p = 0.002; 83 vs. 69%, p = 0.007). Our finding suggests that STAT6 in2SNP3 is associated with penicillin allergy, but has no effect on the specific IgE levels of patients with penicillin allergy.