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Interleukin 6 SNP rs1800797 associates with the risk of adult-onset asthma

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Abstract

Interleukin 6 (IL6) is an inflammatory cytokine that has been suggested to have an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. IL6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with levels of IL6, and with childhood and prevalent adult asthma. A recent study also suggested that IL6 SNPs associate especially with atopic asthma. However, association of IL6 SNPs with adult-onset asthma has not been studied. In a population-based study of 467 incident adult-onset asthma cases and 613 disease-free controls from South Finland, we analyzed association of 6 tagging SNPs of the IL6 locus with the risk of adult-onset asthma and with atopy. Asthma was clinically diagnosed, and atopy was defined based on Phadiatop test. IL6 SNP rs1800797 associated with the risk of adult-onset asthma in a log additive model, with adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.09–1.57), and especially with the risk of atopic adult-onset asthma when compared with non-atopic controls, aOR 1.46 (95% CI 1.12–1.90). This is the first study to show an association of IL6 with adult-onset asthma, and especially with atopic adult-onset asthma.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland grants no. 138691, 266314 and 129419 the SALVE program (http://www.aka.fi/en-GB/A/), and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health grant no. STM/1523/2012 (http://www.stm.fi/en/frontpage) and the University of Oulu Strategic Funding for CERH. The funders had no role in design and conduct of the study, in collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data or in preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.

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  1. J J K Jaakkola and M S Jaakkola: These authors jointly directed this work.

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  1. Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research (CERH), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    T K Lajunen, J J K Jaakkola & M S Jaakkola

  2. Medical Research Center Oulu (MRC Oulu), Oulu, Finland

    T K Lajunen, J J K Jaakkola & M S Jaakkola

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Lajunen, T., Jaakkola, J. & Jaakkola, M. Interleukin 6 SNP rs1800797 associates with the risk of adult-onset asthma. Genes Immun 17, 193–198 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2016.8

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