@article{22156,
  keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Case-Control Studies, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Interleukin-4, leprosy, Male, Middle Aged, polymerase chain reaction, Polymorphism, Genetic, Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length, Young Adult},
  author = {Yang D and Song H and Xu W and Long H and Shi C and Jing Z and Song W and Pei B},
  title = {Interleukin 4-590T/C polymorphism and susceptibility to leprosy.},
  abstract = {<p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Cell-mediated (Th1) immune response and humoral (Th2) immune response play different roles in leprosy infection. Interleukin 4 (IL-4) is a typical Th2 cytokine. It is a critical mediator of the Th1/Th2 balance.</p><p><b>OBJECTIVE: </b>The objective of this study is to investigate the association between IL-4 gene -590T/C polymorphism and the susceptibility to leprosy in a Chinese population.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>The IL-4 variant -590T/C was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 432 leprosy cases and 465 age-matched healthy controls. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>Frequencies of the IL-4-590TC and CC genotypes and the -590C allele were significantly lower in patients with leprosy than in healthy controls (odds ratio [OR]=0.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.99, p=0.044; OR=0.46, 95% CI 0.25-0.84, p=0.010; and OR=0.68, 95% CI 0.54-0.86, p=0.001, respectively).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>Our data suggest that the -590T/C polymorphism of the IL-4 gene is associated with decreased susceptibility of leprosy.</p>},
  year = {2011},
  journal = {Genetic testing and molecular biomarkers},
  volume = {15},
  pages = {877-81},
  month = {2011 Dec},
  issn = {1945-0257},
  doi = {10.1089/gtmb.2011.0032},
  language = {eng},
}