Uteroglobin-related protein 1 gene −112G/A polymorphism and atopic asthma in Sicilian children

The secretory protein, uteroglobin-related protein 1 (UGRP1), is expressed mainly in the lung and trachea and recently has been implicated in asthma. The −112G to A transition in the promoter was reported to be associated with asthma in the Japanese population. However, this has not been replicated in other studies. The aim of this study was to find the association of the UGRP1 gene polymorphism with atopic asthma in the Sicilian population. We conducted a transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) in 73 trios identified through 113 pediatric patients being treated for asthma. A case-control study also was performed by comparing the 113 unrelated asthmatic children and 230 unrelated healthy Italian subjects (121 children and 109 adults). The −112 G/A polymorphism was genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism method and direct sequencing. The TDT revealed that the −112A allele was not preferentially transmitted from the parents to asthmatic offspring (chi-square = 3.08; p = NS). Neither the presence of at least one A allele in an individual's genotype (sum of the G/A and A/A genotype) nor the −112A allele was more prevalent among the asthma subjects than among the control subjects. Our results suggest that the −112G/A polymorphism does not play a significant role in the genetic predisposition of the UGRP1 gene in atopic asthma in the Sicilian population.